Savin' Me
by Shyma Tavrott Lupin
Summary: The Clone Wars have been raging for four years now and our main heroes go in search of the renown General Grievous all while facing death, hurt, betrayal and most of all, the dark side.Sequel to Someday.Non-slash
1. Trouble Already

**Hey guys! The very first chapter of Savin' Me is finally here! And I know, it took only about forever and a half but it's here now. I've just been really busy with school and all so I have no idea how frequent my updates will be, but I know they'll never take more than a month so I hope that's a bit reassuring XD Anywho, I'm thrilled to introduce to you the beginning of the sequel to Someday, Savin' Me. Enjoy!**

The sun shone brightly on the tireless planet of Coroscant.

As well as the dozens of star ships and star fighters engaged in battle above the planet. Amongst them floated along the ships of enemy General Grievous, whom they where all looking for to destroy. Easier said than done. Amongst the fleets of star fighters, there where two that stood out the most.

Two Jedi fighters, that strayed from the rest and shot over the _Malevolence. _Both fighters flew in perfect unison and unmistakable grace, straight to the battle below. They flew through explosions, dodged torpedoes and headed for the ship they knew for sure, General Grievous was on.

"Lock on to them R2" spoke the voice of Anakin Skywalker, from the first Jedi fighter. R2 beeped a response. "Master, General Grievous's ship is directly ahead. The one crawling with vulture droids" he spoke this time into the intercom.

"Yeah, I see it" replied Garen Muln from the second fighter "Oddball, do you copy?"

"Copy, gold leader" Oddball answered.

"Mark my position, form your squad up behind me" Garen ordered.

"We're on your tail General Muln" Oddball confirmed.

A fleet of Grievous's fighters headed straight for them, before a grin broke out on Anakin's face "This is where the fun begins."

"Let them pass between us" Garen ordered. As they passed, he heard them lose a clone. He sucked his teeth at the loss and carried on.

"They're all over me!" Came the cry of another clone "I can't-" but he was cut off by the explosion of his own ship.

Anakin frowned "I'm going to go help them out" he spoke over the comm.

"No, no, they're doing their job. We should do ours" Garen shook his head. Anakin hesitated for a moment before he let it go and followed Garen further. And as he did, a ship from behind shot some 4 ion torpedoes their way.

"Missiles! Pull up" Anakin barked hurriedly. The missiles over shot them as they pulled up. But both of them realized, they would be coming around.

2 of the missiles went after Garen and two after Anakin. The Jedi split up and lead the missiles in different directions.

"Yes R2, go on, the fancier the better" Anakin grinned as R2D2 made a suggestion.

Meanwhile Garen tuned in to his droid and gave it strict orders "Surge all power units R3, stand by reverse thrusters." As soon as the droid beeped in affirmative, Garen smirked and shoved his steering all the way to one side. This caused the fighter to spin as it moved, and eventually, the two missiles behind him blew up on one another.

"Good job R3, now let's go find that over achiever padawan of mine, shall we?" Garen grinned as he returned to normal drive and flew off. But as he did, a herd of buzz droids passed him, a few even latching themselves onto the outside of his ship. "Sithspit. Anakin, I'm hit" he growled into the comm.

"I know, I see you. I'll be right there" Anakin replied.

Garen cursed under his breath as the droids began drilling into the sides of his fighter. One of them headed for the other side of his fighter, straighter for his poor little astromech droid.

"R3 be careful, you have-" but at that moment, the droid tore R3's cover off and sent it hurling into space "Oh dear..." Garen muttered before he felt a jerk. Looking to the side, he saw one of the droids drilling deeper into his fighter. "They're shutting down all the controls!" he cursed, flipping a few switches, trying to get them to work.

"Move to the side so I can get a clear shot" Anakin ordered.

"NO! No! Anakin Skywalker I will force push you into the next century if you fire!" Garen shouted, half in panic "The ship's just ahead. Go on and get the Chancellor, we don't have much time." At that moment, something flew off of the ship and Garen's cockpit began to fog "Shavit, the cockpit's fogging, I can't see a thing. Anakin, go!"

"Just move to the right will you?" Anakin muttered impatiently.

"Hang on Anakin, you're going to get us both killed" Garen warned. He leaned backwards and tried the controls behind him "Get out of here, there's nothing more you can do."

"I'm not leaving without you, Garen" Anakin replied before he moved his fighter to the side and used his right wing to wipe the droids off of Garen's fighter.

"Thank you Anakin" Garen sighed "There General's ship is dead ahead."

"Well have you noticed the shields are still up?!" Anakin shouted.

"Right, my bad" Garen muttered as he turned over Anakin's fighter, got a clear aim at the side of the starship ahead and fired. The controls immediately burned out, but the steel gates began to close the entrance to the ship.

"Ah...I have a bad feeling about this.." Anakin muttered before he, along with Garen accelerated his fighter. They shot forwards and just barely made it into the ship before the gate slammed shut behind them. Both Jedi hit the brakes on their vehicles, causing them to crash and swerve to an untimely stop on the main hangar of the ship.

Garen jumped out of his fighter as soon as it hit the ground, with grace only a Jedi could attain. He activated his saber in mid air and took out several droids the second his boots connected with the durasteel floor.

Anakin on the other hand waited for the ship to screech to a halt before stepping out and joining his master's fight against the battle droids.

"R2! Locate the Chancellor!" Garen yelled over the firing of the droids. He and Anakin finished them off before walking over to R2, who was emitting a hologram of the ship.

"The Chancellor's presence is coming from there" Garen pointed at a part of the hologram.

"I sense Grievous..." Anakin muttered.

"It doesn't matter. We're here for the Chancellor. The others are here for Grievous. Anyways...I sense a trap" Garen added.

"Next move?" Anakin raised a brow expectantly.

"Spring the trap" Garen grinned "But first, we should catch up to the others. See if they've got a hold of Grievous yet." He fished his comm. Link out of his belt and made a call.

"Garen of all the force forsaken times to call me this has to be the worst!" screamed the voice of Xanatos Omega from the comm.

"Well, I'm sorry. I need to know how it's going with you three" Garen replied.

"It's-" the sound something exploding filled the other end "In the name of-Obi-Wan you nitwit!" Xanatos shouted. "Well I'm sorry! I didn't really mean to hit the reactor you know!" came the rather childish sounding plea of Obi-Wan Kenobi, from the background. "Leave him alone, Xan, the droids where all over him" Another voice, this one belonging to Alliya Taro spoke. "Thank you Alliya!" Obi-Wan shouted one more time before Xanatos turned his attention back to Garen.

"I am so sorry Garen, what exactly was it that you were saying before we were rudely _almost blown up_?" the emphasis in the last three words where clear.

"I said I was sorry!" came Obi-Wan's voice.

"Obi-Wan! Just stop, please!" Xanatos growled "Garen please, before Obi-Wan's stupidity kills us all."

"How is it going with you guys? Tracked Grievous yet?" Garen asked smiling.

"Where are you and Anakin, are you on the _Invisible_ _Hand_ yet?"

"Yeah, we're here at the main hangar. Grievous's signal is coming from the rear of the ship. Where exactly are you?"

"We're at the base of the spire on the _Invisible Hand_."

"Alright, you guys go on then and find Grievous, we'll track down the Chancellor."

"Right. See you soon Garen."

"You too Xanatos. Muln out."

And with that Garen hung up. He turned to R2 "R2, stay with the ships, use this if you need us" he said tossing the droid his comm. Link. R2 beeped a reply.

"Well, they sound like they're having fun" Anakin chuckled as he and Garen began to walk off.

"That they are, padawan" Garen laughed.

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"Still, you didn't have to blow the whole thing up you know. Now they probably know we're here" Xanatos grumbled as he, Obi-Wan and Alliya walked along.

"Oh come on Xan, drop it. It was an accident" Obi-Wan half whined.

"Fine, fine-Obi-Wan, destroyers" Xanatos growled as almost 15 shield generators rolled to a stop in front of them. The three Jedi immediately activated their weapons and began deflecting shots. Each Jedi took a separate side to tackle the droids from. That is until something caught Xanatos's eye. He noticed a tin barrel on the other side of the room. And something told him, if that thing was shot, it would be enough to take out the droids. It wasn't enough to blow the room, or even reach the others, it would just have a minimum range explosion on the droids nearby. So with that Xanatos deflected a shot and aimed it towards the barrel.

Little did he realize, Obi-Wan, who had just somersaulted backwards, landed about a foot away from the barrel. But despite, Xanatos's blindness to the occurring, Alliya spotted it. She saw Xanatos aim for the barrel and she saw Obi-Wan land near it. So in a spur of the moment action, Alliya shot towards Obi-Wan and tackled him to the ground. And just as they landed, the barrel erupted in flames, lighting the droids all on fire. The heat soared above their heads, barely missing them. And once the flames died down, Alliya scanned the premises once before she lifted herself off of Obi-Wan and lowered a hand for him.

"Sithspit..." Obi-Wan, who had just realized what would have happened to him, had Alliya not interfered, cursed "Thanks Alliya, that's two I owe you" he smiled a bit, taking her hand to stand up.

Xanatos, who had also just realized, jogged over "Force, sorry about that kid, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Cause Alliya just tore me out of the hands of death" Obi-Wan answered, still a bit shocked at what had just happened.

Xanatos turned to Alliya and opened his mouth to speak, but a single smile from her was all the words they needed to exchange to get the message across. "Now, let's get going, shall we?" Alliya gestured ahead. The two men nodded and the took off again.

Once they had reached the end of the hallway that lead from the "flame room" they came to a set of doors. All three of them sensing, something was not right.

Xanatos took a step forward and the doors automatically slid open. He dwelled on the thought for a single second before stepping into the enormous room that the doors revealed. He looked across the room before he spotted something all the way on the other side. A large swivel arm chair. He raised a brow before gesturing for the other two to follow him as he dashed over to it.

And as soon as he was close enough, Xanatos saw the person seated on the chair was...the chancellor? His hands were strapped down to the arms of the metal chair. Wait that wasn't right...

"Chancellor Palpatine..." Xanatos muttered in a very confused tone.

"If you were looking for Grievous, you should know that he figured out you were tracking us and switched my tracker for his" Palpatine said casually.

"Ah...well...that's not good" Xanatos shook his head "Obi-Wan, call up Garen and let him know he's really tracking Grievous. I don't think he'll be too happy if he runs into a metal death machine instead of the chancellor. "

And while Obi-Wan did reached for his comm. link, Xanatos drew his lightsaber and cut open the chancellor's restrains.

"Xanatos, I can't seem to reach Garen...his signal is shot" Obi-Wan frowned after a while.

Xanatos helped the chancellor up and returned the frown "That's not right...."

"We should probably get moving though" Alliya said "Once we get back to our fighters, one of us can escort the chancellor back to Coroscant while the other two go to find Garen and Anakin."

Obi-Wan inwardly groaned at this plan, knowing he would end up as the chancellor's escort. Despite this he did not complain, he owed Alliya.

"Good thinking..." Xanatos muttered "Let's go then." said, leading that way.

"Alright, so we're heading to the hangar first?" Alliya said as he, Alliya, Obi-Wan and the chancellor stepped out the doors of the room.

"If we want to save some time, Obi-Wan, why don't you head to the hangar with the chancellor and Alliya and I will go and find Garen and Anakin" Xanatos spoke. Obi-Wan sighed and nodded, it wasn't a command, it was a request, and Obi-Wan didn't really have the heart to deny it.

"Alright, the hangar bay's this way, and Garen said he was heading towards the rear of the ship, so we should go our separate ways here" Obi-Wan suggested, trying not to sound a bit disappointed.

Xanatos nodded as he stopped walking. He put a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder and offered a small smile "Stay safe, alright?"

"I will" Obi-Wan returned the smile.

And with that Xanatos turned around, looked to Alliya and nodded in the direction down the hall. She nodded they and took off down the hall in a run.

"Chancellor, if you will, this way" Obi-Wan gestured towards another corridor.

"Of course, Master Kenobi" Palpatine said as he followed Obi-Wan down the hall.

Obi-Wan smiled at being a addressed in such a way. He remembered how Xanatos used to smile as well when he was just a knight being addressed as a master. His thoughts were interrupted however as the ground gave a sudden shake and a thunderous explosion came from above them.

Obi-Wan froze immediately and drew his lightsaber. He activated it and listened for anything that might give him a clue as to what that was. When all he heard was silence, he looked over his shoulder to make sure the Chancellor was alright. Palpatine merely stood behind him, frozen in his tracks as well.

Obi-Wan thought for a minute. It was way to early for Xanatos and Alliya to have picked a fight and he doubted that was Anakin or Garen because he would have sensed them, had they been so close.

"We have to move quickly. I have a bad feeling that Grievous knows we're here" Obi-Wan growled as he gestured for the chancellor to follow him. His pace was much quicker than it was a moment ago, in a rush to get to the hangar as soon as possible.

But all too soon the ground gave another terrible quake. And a deafening roar came to Obi-Wan's ears as the ceiling above came crashing down...right between himself and the chancellor. Obi-Wan pivoted as a chunk of debri collided with his right wrist, not only knocking the lightsaber straight out of it, but also as he was sure, fracturing or even breaking the bone in the process.

"Master Kenobi!" Palpatine gave a weak cry.

Obi-Wan spun around to face the elder, and found it to be a terrible mistake when he heard something...or rather someone land behind him with a loud metallic clank. But it was too late.

He barely managed to turn and catch a glimpse of the gruesome form of General Grievous before a steel claw connected with the back of his neck and his entire world plunged into darkness.

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"Are you sure Obi-Wan will be alright?" Alliya said as she and Xanatos jogged down the hallway.

"He'll be fine" Xanatos replied "Obi-Wan is very capable and he can handle a simple escort job."

Alliya shrugged, not exactly content or completely empty with the reply. They moved along a bit further before turning a corner and promptly running straight into the rather startled form of Garen Muln.

From behind him, Anakin activated his lightsaber, ready for battle, but lowered it once more as he saw Xanatos and Alliya.

Garen, who had collided with Xanatos, stepped back "Oh...it's just you two, what are you doing here?"

"Trying to find you" Xanatos replied "Which I must admit was much easier that we expected."

"Yeah well with the Chancellor's signal running all over the ship, it's been a bit hard to actually locate him" Anakin grumbled "And where's Obi-Wan?"

"That's another thing, _we_ found the Chancellor" Alliya pointed out. Garen and Anakin raised their brows as she continued "Turns out Grievous knew we where tracking them. He switched the Chancellor's beacon for his, so you where really tracking Grievous and we where really tracking the Chancellor. Obi-Wan tried to call you to tell you that but your signal was jammed so he decided to go that way" Alliya pointed behind herself "And escort the Chancellor to safety while we came to find you and help you out with Grievous, should you run into him."

Garen simply nodded, but Anakin spoke up "Wait so that means if we've been tracking Grievous...and we saw his signal go that way" he pointed fown the hall that Xanatos and Alliya had just come from "Doesn't that mean he's heading straight for..." he trailed off as the sudden realization hit all four of the Jedi at the same time.

"He's heading for Obi-Wan" Xanatos muttered almost breathlessly before he and the other three doubled back and shot down the path they had just come from.

"If Grievous attacks him and the Chancellor I doubt he'll be able to hold off on his own" Alliya said between breaths.

"I know, precisely why I'm forcing the air out of my lungs to try and reach him before that happens" Xanatos growled.

Suddenly the ground shook, freezing all four Jedi on the spot. And then the sound of a lightsaber humming to life came to their ears.

"Shavit!" Xanatos cursed as he forced himself to keep move forward. He tried desperately to push back the millions of negative thoughts that were crowding his mind and focus on reaching Obi-Wan.

He ran down the corridor(his companions trailing closely behind him) and turned the corner from which he had heard the saber. But was horrified as he screeched to a stop and took in the sight before him. Xanatos felt himself choke up, it had been only what...20 minutes since they'd boarded the ship and they where already in trouble? He looked ahead;

Some 20 feet ahead of him, stood General Grievous, in front of the Chancellor's much smaller fram. The General had three lightsabers drawn in three of his four hands. And the other cold metal hand had a terrifying grip on the neck of an unconcious Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"Ah, Sithspit."

**Well, that was the first chapter of Savin' Me. Hope it came out alright =] **

**Oh boy, the first chapter and the guys are already in trouble. I realize Alliya has a huge personality change here, and that's because I went back and edited her character in If Everyone Cared. So if any of you go back to Chapter 12 in that you'll see I fixed that up to make her seem like a nicer person. Because I had originally intended her to be like a mother figure to balance out Xanatos's father figure, but god knows how that sort of got messed up and she ended up looking like a shallow little fangirl. Soooo sorry about that, cause I know how much I hate those kinds of characters myself =( So I fixed her up now, she's a lot nicer to Obi-Wan and everyone else in general...so yeah...just wanted to clear that up =]**

**God, I've just matured so much as a writer since I've done If Everyone Cared, it's not even funny. I read a bit of I.E.C and then I read this and I saw a significant difference in the writting. A bit of a shocker eh? Has that happened to any of you? Where you go "Oh my god it's been only like a year and look where I was then and where I am now 0.o"**

**Oh, plus in the next 3 or 4 chapters, someone from the gang is going to be killed off *insert gasp* Any guesses who?!**

**Lol I feel so good to once again be able to say, Review!!!**


	2. Rotham

**Hey guys, sorry this took a bit, but it's super long so hopefully that'll make up. Plus the fact that the ending is super angsty should help too XD Enjoy!**

Upon seeing Grievous holding his former apprentice up in the air with a bone crushing grip on the neck, Xanatos's heart proceeded to skip several beats.

"Grievous!" Anakin growled from behind him.

Grievous's gruesome yellow eyes suddenly snapped to the people that had approached him "Well if it isn't General Omega" his robotic voice cackled "Come for you pathetic little apprentice?"

Xanatos chose to ignore the comment, rather he decided to throw out a witty comment in an attempt to look unphased "So I suppose this is the part where I scream heroically for you to let Obi-Wan go, and you promptly refuse?"

"It could be" Grievous shrugged "Or this could be the part where I tell you that I will snap Commander Kenobi's spine in two if you do not comply with my wishes."

Xanatos visibly tensed. He considered using his talent to think up of brilliant plans in the span of seconds to do something, but then reconsidered. Grievous had Obi-Wan literally at his fingertips. If even the slightest thing went wrong, he could kill Obi-Wan without a single regret. Rather if he killed Obi-Wan it would turn more than one person in the room to the dark side, hence having him complete two goals in the place of one.

Xanatos shook his head. He knew he couldn't take that risk. "What do you want?" he asked adamantly.

"Only that you come quietly with me" Grievous answered.

"To where exactly?" Garen stepped up.

"That is, for me to know and you not to figure out" Grievous replied.

It vaguely occurred to Xanatos that the Chancellor was still standing behind Grievous. And there was no way they could save Obi-Wan and the Chancellor at the same time. It just wasn't possible. Not even for them.

"Alright…we'll come with you" he said, still looking confident.

"Good, good, but you don't think I nearly trust you enough to just come with me do you?" Grievous coughed violently.

Xanatos raised a questioning brow before the vent above his head suddenly snapped open, and a green gas sprayed out.

"Dioxis!" Garen growled.

Xanatos was suddenly seized by a strong sense of déjà vu, remembering the exact scene in the Trade Federation Headquarters almost 15 years ago. Even more memories of Obi-Wan.

He knew he had to run, get away from the poisonous gas. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself but found his lungs fill with nothing but the stinging dioxis filled air. Xanatos felt the gas begin to take affect immediately. His insides suddenly felt like someone was stabbing needles into them and his vision began to blur.

It vaguely occurred to him that dioxis normally didn't travel that fast, and it definitely took a while for it to spread. But his thoughts where cut short as he felt one last jolt in the force, and collapsed to the ground.

* * *

Xanatos Omega awoke feeling completely stiff and sore.

He blinked a few times before his vision cleared and he could see again. The first thing he realized upon waking was that he was tied up against the wall, arms chained above his head, and legs chained to the ground.

He looked around saw he was in a blindingly white room. The only object in the room was a white table at the corner of the room. He then looked up and saw chained across from him was the Chancellor.

"Nice of you to join us Master Omega" the Chancellor drawled. And if Xanatos didn't know any better he'd think that the elder was rolling his eyes. "What happened?" he muttered, assuming the Chancellor had the slightest idea more than himself. He was a bit taken back by the sound of his own hoarse voice.

"The gas that Grievous forced on you Jedi was a much more advanced form of dioxis than we thought even existed. It not only knocked you out, but also temporarily paralyzed you neck down" Palpatine paused as Xanatos, on instinct tried to move his limbs and found that he could not. "Where are the others?" he muttered with much effort. Why did he feel so tired?

"Well, Grievous personally put the two of us in here" Palpatine replied "A droid pulled Commander Kenobi away by himself. Master Taro was taken by herself as well, and Commander Muln and Padawan Skywalker where taken together."

Xanatos let out a breath. Well at least now he knew they where safe…for now. He reached out into the force and tried to feel for Obi-Wan or Garen…but found himself completely blocked off from the force.

"Sithspit" he cursed under his breath. He should have known they would have used some kind of force suppressant on him. If he had the force then he would have been able to snap his body out of the paralysis in no time, so it was only natural they would take that from him. He vaguely wondered if they had done the same to the others. Probably.

"I take it we will have to remain here for some time?" Palpatine spoke.

"For now yes, there is nothing we can do" Xanatos admitted, still as adamant as ever, despite the lack of energy in his voice. He allowed his chin to drop to his chest and closed his eyes. At the moment he needed to do anything he could to keep his limited energy intact.

Meanwhile, on complete opposite side of the Prisoner Ward, Anakin Skywalker woke.

Anakin groaned as he regained consciousness and recognized himself to be on the floor. He lifted his head off the floor and looked around the neon white room. It was bare all except him and the man tied to the wall across from him, which he recognized to be none other than Garen. He noticed that the older's wrists where binded with mere ropes, no chains, no shackles….just ropes.

"Master?" he called up weakly.

Garen slowly lifted his head off his chest to meet his apprentice's eyes "Anakin…" His voice sounded rugged, as though he was forcing himself to speak "Any idea what happened?"

Anakin shook his head, and suddenly stated the obvious "They drugged us…" Though he was starting to get the feeling that Garen was drugged far more heavily than he was. This was probably why they didn't bother to tie him up that well.

"Yes, padawan because I wasn't already aware of that" Garen managed sarcasm even in his state "I swear your turning into Obi-Wan more and more every day."

"I'm not sure if that was a compliment" Anakin said in a rather confused tone. And just as the mood was lightening, a click sounded from the door.

Both the Jedi turned their eyes to the white door.

A man strode in; he was tall with broad shoulders. He wore a pitch black trench coat and black hat that made him stand out terribly in the white room. His eyes where dark and his skin pale, causing the gruesome scars littered across his face to stand out even more. He strode quickly over to Anakin. He kneeled a few feet away from the teen and stared him dead in the eyes.

And Anakin stared back. He wasn't aware that Grievous kept human workers onboard, and was a bit surprised.

"Anakin Skywalker" the man spoke in a low, unnerving voice "Chosen one of the Jedi Order. How are you today?"

Garen narrowed his eyes upon hearing the man's voice. Something in the back of his head told him he'd heard that stoic, yet strained voice somewhere before. But where?

If Anakin didn't feel like the weight of the world was on his shoulders he probably would have gotten up and punched the man in the face "Oh I'm doing just fine, had a wonderful meal in the afternoon with my master here and now we're off for our kriffing evening jog!" he shouted the last few words.

"They told me you had a rather…venomous attitude" the man smirked "But, I am not here to fix your attitude, I believe that is your master's job-which might I add he is doing a disgusting job of doing. They always said, don't baby the apprentice, he'll come and stab you in the back in the end…" he said acknowledging Garen's presence for the first time.

"So what are you here for?" Anakin growled, trying to ignore the direct insults toward his master.

"You see Anakin, you are a very valuable person" the man said as he stood up, forcing Anakin to look up at him "But your destiny does not lie with the Jedi. They do not allow you to use your power to its fullest extent as you would like to…they underestimate you…hold you back."

Anakin tried to keep his mind from believing this man's words but force, did they make sense. It was true…they didn't let him use all his power. He knew he could do so much, and yet he was allowed to do so little. They held him back a great deal. For force's sake, he was 23 and still a padawan! He trusted Garen's judgment on his abilities but honestly, why was it that Xanatos and Obi-Wan could be knighted at 18 and he, the Chosen One was at 23 and still a mere padawan?!

_Because Obi-Wan killed a sith lord and Xanatos turned back from the dark side, that's why, _the Jedi half of Anakin said.

But still…

"Thinking about my words are we, young Skywalker?" the man spoke, the satisfaction clear in his voice. Anakin looked past him, to Garen and saw that his master was simply listening to the conversation. And Anakin got the feeling that he trusted him to make the right decisions with this man. He shook his head. He couldn't let Garen down…not now at least. So he threw his previous thoughts to the back of his mind.

"You want desperately to be free don't you Anakin?" the man said in an almost mocking voice "To help your master-because _clearly_ he is far more damaged than you are-and to see if the other three Jedi that where with you are safe and alright…not to mention alive."

Anakin suddenly remembered that Xanatos, Obi-Wan and Alliya where knocked by the dioxis as well. And a sudden sense of panic filled him up as the man's words sank. _Where_ they still alive…or where they…

_No! _Anakin shook his head; he knew where that train of thought would lead him.

"I'll tell you what Anakin, you see that chain around your leg?" the man gestured towards Anakin's foot. Anakin's eyes snapped to it and saw that it was indeed bound to the floor.

_Wow, how did I not catch that before? Just goes to show how badly I'm out of it…_

Out of instinct or maybe even mental satisfaction, he pulled against the chains and found them very much solid and capable of holding him down. Something on the steel cuff around his ankle caught his attention. Actually, the three steel cuffs stationed on different parts of his leg. There was one around his knee, one on his shin and the last around his ankle. There was a small blinking red light on each. They where flashing on and off in an almost taunting way.

"That is the only thing holding you back Anakin" the man said "It is the _only_ thing holding you back. It is stopping your use of the force and it is also draining your energy. You where not drugged or injected with anything as your master is-as much as you may feel like it."

Anakin raised a brow and tugged at the chains once more. Solid.

"You won't be able to break them by simply pulling on them. You see, these are very special cuffs. Made in the early days during the peak of the Sith's rein. There are very few that still exist to this day but back then they where used on Jedi prisoners because there was only one simple way of releasing the locks…the only thing no true Jedi would ever do, even if it was to escape their captors…" the man trialed off, sensing Anakin's anxiety.

"To use the dark side…" But the voice that had spoken was not one that Anakin had expected. It was Garen's; he spoke in a low barely audible voice.

"Precisely" the man said turning to face the older Jedi. He walked closer to him, Garen's ear "Recognize me Muln?"

It took Garen a moment before it suddenly hit him where he had heard that voice before "You're-"

"-the pathetic boy that Master Rhara decided not to pick because she saw more promise in little Garen Muln…yes" the man grinned baring his sharp jagged teeth.

"Serion Rotham…" Garen whispered "I didn't think you'd follow this road…"

"I'm sure you would have done the same, had the best friend of the boy you detested become a padawan over you-"

"Obi-Wan never did anything to harm you!" Garen quickly shouted back. But quicker than _he_ could react, Rotham's hand connected with his cheek, snapping his head to aside. Rotham grabbed Garen's collar and whispered into his ear once more "Kenobi killed Bruck, he killed him in cold murder….he killed the guy that was like a brother to me…he killed him!"

"Obi-Wan didn't kill him, he-"

"SILENCE" Rotham roared, making Garen cringe a bit.

"Anywho, where was I Anakin?" Rotham smiled pleasantly, turning back to Anakin "Ah yes, they had to use the dark side! Only the use of the dark force would undo the locks inside the cuffs, therefore releasing the Jedi. But your binds are a tad different from those used back in the day…"

Anakin narrowed his eyes; he had a bad feeling about this…

"Your lock not only releases your own binds, but that of a certain Jedi Master Xanatos Omega-I do not believe I have met him but I have been told he's in an undesirable amount of pain at the moment and I am sure you would want him free" the man paused and marveled the look of inner conflict that momentarily filled up the younger's face "So what do you think Anakin, do you want to give it a shot?"

"No!" Was Anakin's immediate reaction "I…I would never use the dark side!"

"Really?" a twisted expression came upon the man's face as he drew something from his belt and held it swiftly to Garen's neck.

A taser gun.

"600 volts of electricity" the man stated coldly "Not enough to kill him but enough to cause him so much pain that he would wish it did."

Anakin's eyes widened a great deal. He opened his mouth to speak but the man beat him to it.

"And rest assured he doesn't have the comfort of losing conscience. His body has been drugged against it" he said as he moved the taser so close to Garen's neck that if he where to move even the slightest bit he would be hit.

Anakin's thoughts raced. He couldn't use the dark side…he didn't know how…and even if he did he was sure it would make Garen anything but happy. But he didn't think Garen would be too happy if he was on the brink of death through shock either….

Either option involved seeing the man that was so close to him, getting hurt.

"You know how to tap the dark side Anakin. I know you do; we all know you do…" Rotham paused.

"Anakin…" Garen said softly, in the most trusting way a man in his situation could sum up.

It made Anakin feel terrible inside. He would cause Garen inexplicable pain either way. But the Jedi in him took over his decision "I will not turn to the dark side."

"No one told you to turn Anakin, just touch. Simply to release yourself and your friend. Just one touch" Rotham urged.

Anakin hesitated for a moment "No…I won't…I refuse to dishonor the teachings of my master." He was sure he had spotted a faint smile on Garen's face at the words.

"Fine" Rotham growled, his eerily pleasant smile turning into a look of pure anger and hatred. And with one swift movement, impaled the taser into the side of Garen's neck.

Garen immediately threw his head back in the sheer shock of having that much adrenaline shoot through his body all at once.

"NO!" Anakin suddenly shouted, attempting to bound off the floor. His binds however jerked him back to the ground.

Rotham seemed pleased by this reaction, seeing as the smile returned to his face and he buried the taser deeper into Garen's neck. The older Jedi fit his lip in an attempt to suppress a scream. He knew if he where to show any signs of severe pain, Anakin would go ballistic….but this was just crazy. His throat began to burn in the scream he knew was building up inside of him.

Still he held it back. He had to…for the sake of the mission, for the sake of Anakin, for the sake of everything worth fighting for.

However when Rotham brutally tore the gun from his neck and kneed him in the stomach, his scream completely dried in his throat. The breath was knocked out of his lungs and for a second he felt his entire body system freeze. Dark, warm blood sputtered from his throat and spilled over his lips with a harsh cough. He vaguely registered Anakin's scream and the binds on his wrists coming loose before his body slumped forward and collapsed onto the ground with a sickening crack.

"Garen!" he heard Anakin scream in terror. It was drowned out however by Rotham's cackling laughter "How does it feel, young Skywalker? To see someone so dear to you just as good as killed in front of your eyes….makes you angry doesn't it?"

It was at this point that Garen felt the emotion gushing into Anakin. Despite his lack of connection with the force he could still feel the suffocating emotions filling the room. However they where not the emotions he had expected. He had expected to feel anger and hatred, but all he felt was misery, raw, unbridled hurt and agony. And for a moment Garen felt terrible for assuming that his padawan would mess up and turn to hate immediately.

"Garen…Master?" he heard a soft call. And as much as he wanted to look up and tell Anakin he was alright, and that nothing was wrong, he found himself completely immobile. His eyes where screwed shut in the blinding pain that still reverberated through his body and as hard as he tried he couldn't make it even fade.

So he simply curled his limbs closer to himself in an attempt to help his condition.

Rotham laughed to his heart's content "Should I finish him off Anakin?" He teased.

He grinned when he saw the heartbroken expression on Anakin's face. He could tell the young man was fighting very hard to keep the tears in his eyes from spilling over "You monster!" he screamed almost childishly at the elder.

Rotham only grinned "Maybe I should…....here" and with that he landed a hard, merciless kick at Garen's side, causing him to roll off his stomach and onto his back. A very low groan could be heard before the Jedi Master's body went limp.

"GAREN!" Anakin screamed, shooting forward against the will of his binds. He struggled and crawled against the ground, in desperate attempts to reach the man that was so dear to him.

_He's not dead, Rotham was just messing around about finishing it off…he's not dead, he's Garen for force's sake, he doesn't die that easily…force, he's not dead, he's not dead, he's not dead, _Anakin thought repeatedly to himself.

Frustrated with his lack of ability to reach his master, Anakin doubled back and began to claw at the shackles at his leg.

"Trying to break those won't help you" Rotham smiled.

Anakin briefly looked up at the man, a look of utter desperation on his face and then returned to trying to pry off his binds.

"You do that Anakin, but I am telling you now it won't do anything but tire you out. You're master is near death and time is ticking for your friends…the choice is your Anakin" Rotham advised as he stepped over Garen's body and headed for the door "The fate of your friends is all up to you now."

And with that he strode out, leaving behind a cold, broken and lost Anakin Skywalker.

**Crap...that was kinda harsh wasn't it? Ah, poor Garen, it hurt me to torture him that badly =( Oh well, what'd you think?**

**Review!! =]**


	3. Dark Desicions

**Hey guys, sorry this is up a day later than I said. Fanfiction was having some kind of issue with the login process so I couldn't access my account for like a day and a half =( Still, it's up now, so get ready for a seriously heart pounding and crazy chapter XD Enjoy!**

**Oh plus thanks a million to all of you guys for your amazingly long reviews on the last chapter! I really really loved reading them and they made me really happy =]**

Obi-Wan Kenobi woke up in a bit of a haze. It took him a while to focus his vision but when he did, he found himself in a completely white and bare room. He looked up and found his hands tied over his head with nothing but a thick rope.

He wondered why, but suddenly remembered as the memory of his encounter with Grievous returned to him. Of course at this point, his neck felt as though someone had beat it with a pole, and he remembered the brief encounter he had with Grievous after being put in his room as well.

He had gained conscience once before and it just so happened to be while he was being tied up. He found it a bit odd that Grievous himself was doing the job, but as soon as he was discovered to be awake, he found he simply couldn't leave Obi-Wan conscious and unharmed.

The Knight vaguely wondered if he had dreamt that or not. He slowly looked down to his chest and found rushed and harsh tears in the cloth over his torso.

Oh yes. It was real.

He saw faint traces of dried blood scattered across his chest and took a deep breath. He wondered how long those had bled before they dried out. He suddenly felt a sickening pain at his ribs and decided those must have gotten injured somehow as well. He sighed and gently rest his chin back to his chest. He was in such a state, that as of now, all he could do was…as much as he hated to say it…wait.

Alliya Taro on the other hand lay scattered across the floor of her room. All white aside from the dark red droplets littered around her. She, unlike Obi-Wan had received her end of the beating while fully conscious and able to feel it. And unfortunately, she had neither to comfort of unconscious, nor the ease of full conscience. Rather she constantly dipped in and out of it. She found it rather hard to move and knew, it was a matter of time before she would pass out, and for good.

And like Obi-Wan, she knew, there was nothing better to do…than wait.

* * *

Anakin Skywalker awoke feeling very agitated and exhausted.

For a moment it slipped his mind where he was and why on earth he felt like he'd just been trampled by a herd of bantha. But as soon as he looked up and found Garen up on the wall again (when and how did that happen again?) it all came rushing back to him. Garen's torture, his anguish-Anakin was quick to throw the thoughts out of his mind. This was no time for his emotions to kick in.

For now all he needed was to know whether Anakin was alright or not.

"Master?" he called softly.

No response.

"Master?"

Nothing.

"Garen?"

Silence.

"Gar-" But Anakin was cut off my the sound of the door snapping open, and a very familiar man stepping in. He growled very low in his throat at the sight of the man. "What are you doing here?"

"I am hurt, Anakin! I can't even visit anymore?" Rothma cried in mock hurt.

This angered Anakin further "What do you want?"

"Oh you know what I want…" Rotham said as he stepped over to Garen and slapped his unconscious form, hard on the cheek. Garen's head immediately snapped up with a harsh intake of breath; seemed being pulled into consciousness so fast was rather unpleasant.

"Wake up, I want you to see your precious apprentice leave the light" Rotham growled at Garen, then turned to Anakin "Now, tell him Anakin, tell him you're going to turn to help him out."

"I won't" Anakin said adamantly.

"Tell your master you won't let him die, that you're not just a waste of his time like he thinks you are…"

"You're not a waste Anakin, far from it" Garen was quick to respond.

"He does think you're a waste you know…already lost to the darkness. He hates you" Rotham said grimly.

"That's not true…" Garen responded quietly "It was never true…it will never be.

"He knows you're a dark side user. We all know you are….even the Jedi Council…" Rotham smirked

Anakin's head immediately snapped up.

"Yes that's right…" Rothem grinned a very twisted grin "Do you know why they placed you under the care of Garen after your beloved master's death?"

Anakin went rigid at the mention of Qui-Gon.

"Because you where so likely to turn to the dark side, that they needed someone completely clean to keep a sith bent brat like you in line. Garen didn't want to take you, the council made him do it…" Rotham trailed off.

"That's not true Anakin" Garen pleaded weakly.

"I know it's not true!" Anakin shouted "Force! Stop telling me that! It's almost as though you expect me to believe him!"

"You see Anakin, you've said it yourself. They expect you to screw up" Rotham said with satisfaction.

"Anakin, no…" Garen whispered.

"Shut up…" Anakin growled "It makes sense…" He held his head in his hands, shaking it slowly.

"Yes that's right Anakin, think back, all that about you being special, about you being better than the others…it was all a lie! He never cared; it was his duty to the council!" Rotham cackled.

Garen opened his mouth to speak but was cut short as Anakin let out a blood curling, agonized scream.

All three binds snapped off of Anakin's leg and where crushed to pieces as they where thrown aside. He stumbled up and roughly shot out a hand in Rotham's direction. And before the bounty hunter could even comprehend what was going on an invisible pressure began closing in on his neck.

Blind rage flared through Anakin as he slowly began bringing his fingers closer. He vaguely heard Garen's call of "Padawan!" but barely even registered it. All that mattered now was ridding this man that had just walked in and twisted his faith in everything. He watched as Rotham's fingers' clawed at his neck, trying to pry it from its invisible binds. It made him feel…good. It made him feel powerful.

He heard Garen call him once more. But he didn't care.

With one quick movement he snapped his fingers together in a fist, shattering his victim's neck and sending the limp body to the ground. At the same time Garen yelled out, with more aggression that Anakin had ever heard in his master's voice "ANAKIN SKYWALKER!"

At that point everything suddenly rushed back to Anakin. The binds had come off….he had used the dark side…he had disappointed Garen…he had killed a man, and in one of the cruelest ways at that.

To make things short, he had screwed up…again. Rotham was right…he was a failure, and now he had proved it.

He fell back and drew his legs close to himself. He began to tremble slowly. He had actually used the darkside, making him open to expulsion from the order.

"Anakin?" he heard Garen call, this time much softer.

Anakin couldn't even make himself look up to his master "I'm sorry" he simply murmured.

"It's alright Anakin, we'll discuss this later, right now we need to go find Xanatos. Rotham told us that if your binds opened, then so will his, so best go find him now, then we can track down the others and get out of here" Garen advised.

Anakin nodded softly.

"Good, I'm going to need a little help getting down from here" Garen said, trying to pretend nothing was wrong. Trying to be strong for the sake of his apprentice.

Anakin slowly lifted himself off the ground and approached Garen, his eyes glued to the floor the entire time. He undid his master's binds as quickly as he could and offered support as Garen couldn't walk properly on his own.

When Garen noticed Anakin's downcast expression, he became a bit worried. "Anakin, listen to me, we can't have you like this while trying to escape alright? If it's your use of the dark side that you're worried about then don't be. I know it was accidental, I'm not angry at you; we'll talk about that later. Right now, I need you to focus, alright? I'm depending on you and I trust you to be able to help me. I need your help here…can you help me?"

Anakin nodded slowly and finally decided to look up into Garen's deep green eyes. He was a bit relieved to find no traces of anger or even annoyance in them.

"Good" Garen nodded "And I'm not implying that you did believe anything he said to you Anakin, but I hope you know that I do care about you. And you are much more than just my duty to the council…you are like my son…"

"Yeah…" Anakin nodded, feeling a bit stupid for thinking otherwise "I know…"

"Good…now, I'm going to go no where with simply leaning on you, so…" Garen muttered putting an arm around his apprentice's shoulder.

"Yeah" Anakin said as he got a hold of Garen's wrist "Alright, well let's try to do this quietly." He said as they approached the door. He then put his hand out and used the force to blow the door out. He cringed a bit at the loud crash it made as it collided with the opposite wall.

"Oops…" he muttered.

"Not a problem" Garen sighed "I'm sure the Prisoner's Quarters are secluded from the main ship. They probably didn't hear that."

Anakin nodded and took a step forward before the ground suddenly gave a thundering shake. He put an arm around Garen's back in an attempt to keep them both in balance.

"What on earth was that?" Anakin muttered as he and Garen stepped out into the (much to Anakin's annoyance) blindingly white halls.

But before he could receive an answer, Garen, with what little strength he attained, placed a hand on Anakin's chest and roughly pushed him back, causing both of them to fall back out of the way of a large chunk of the titanium ceiling.

"Sithspit!" Anakin cursed loudly. And whereas generally Garen would give him a half hearted disapproving look, today he didn't even bother. He was 23; there was only so much he could do to keep a man that age from cursing.

"Sithspit indeed" he agreed grimly "I take it Reeft finally got his squad over here."

"He always did have terrible timing" Anakin shook his head as he stood, helping Garen up as well. The ground began to tremble and bits of debris fell from the ceiling. "And now he's tearing the ship into bits…joy" Anakin rolled his eyes "Let's go find Xanatos and the others before this place falls apart completely…"

"Agreed" Garen smirked "You're the one that's free from your force suppressant so go ahead and see if you can sense anyone."

"Yeah" Anakin said almost immediately, surprised at how fast the light side of the force had returned to him. Maybe it had something to do with his conscience knowing no one was blaming him for anything. Or the one person he was afraid of disappointing with the use of it wasn't disappointed. Either way he was happy he didn't feel a bit tainted. "I have Xanatos's presence the strongest, the other two are a bit blurred" he answered "Plus Xanatos is the closest, just down the hall."

"Let's go then!" Garen said a bit exasperated.

* * *

"Master Omega…may I ask you something?" Palpatine spoke to the Jedi across from him after a long while of silence.

"Yes?" Xanatos asked looking up to the elder.

"I was informed that you have…well…turned to the dark side…several times…" Palpatine paused to study Xanatos's face "Why is it that you are still remaining amongst the order?"

Xanatos's expression remained oddly passive "Because every time I have turned down the dark side. I've never given in to it voluntarily. Plus my allegiance remains to the Jedi, now and always…"

"Ah, well you would think that the order would have been careful against possible threats to their inner sanctuary" Palpatine said slowly.

"Yes well, I assure you I am no sith lord" Xanatos chuckled.

"I certainly hope not, or I would be in a bit of a mess right now" Palpatine chuckled as well. "But seriously speaking, Master Omega…I did hear a few things about your turning at the mere age of 18…"

"That…" Xanatos trailed off" is a bit of a personal matter. I do not wish to speak of that incident…"

"Ah, I understand. But I honestly would have thought that if one where to use the dark side that young…they would be deemed…a sith. I mean as far as I've heard sith lords are trained to tap the dark side at an age such as that" Palpatine said.

"I was provoked…" Xanatos muttered.

"Why do you think it is that you've touched the dark side so many times?" Palpatine asked casually.

"I…don't know…" Xanatos replied, becoming a bit uneasy with the conversation.

"You don't know, or you are afraid to tell?" Palpatine asked with a bit of venom in his voice.

"I…" Xanatos was not sure how to respond to that.

"Only one destined to use the dark side would touch it repetitively as you do…"

"I don't-"

"Think about it, Master Omega….why do they send someone as pure and unlikely to turn as Master Kenobi along with you at all times? The council does realize that there is a risk of you turning to the dark side…" Palpatine rationalized.

"The council is aware of my run ins with the darkness" Xanatos countered immediately.

"Yes but isn't it odd how they send Master Kenobi with or after you all the time….as if they suspect you to use the darkside. As if they know you will turn…as if they doubt you…"

"They don't doubt me…?" Xanatos said with a bit of confusion. They didn't…of course they didn't….did they?

"Then why do they send Master Kenobi with you to keep you in check?"

"I…" Xanatos had no answer to that. He didn't really understand what was going on…he knew the council didn't doubt him. So what was this feeling creeping up inside of him? This odd feeling of…doubt in _himself_….

"They expect you to mess up…they think you're already the sith apprentice that you are not. I know you are not Master Omega, you are a good man. So why is it that the council doubts you?" Palpatine asked in concern.

"I…" Xanatos shook his head slowly "I don't know…why they doubt me…" he admitted slowly. _That's because they don't doubt you…_A voice in his head spoke. And he knew enough to trust that voice…but something…some odd feeling still lingered inside of him.

"How do you feel when you use the darkness?" Palpatine asked suddenly.

"I feel…" Xanaos began, wondering why he was answering to begin with "I feel-"

"Powerful, yes? Powerful beyond a Jedi's wildest dreams" Palpatine said, an odd light coming over his features.

"Yes and-" Xanatos suddenly cut himself off as something hit him "Hang on...how do you know tha-"

But before he could finish the cold metal on his wrists and ankles snapped open and he was released. However, caught completely off guard and unable to help himself with the force, he fell to the ground flat on his chest.

He let out a small "oof" as he hit the ground, his vision blurring for a second. It took a moment for him to realize that he had been released. He looked up and saw that the chancellor was still bound. "Well this is rather convenient isn't it?" he said lifting himself off the ground with one push and walking over to the elder.

"It is" Palpatine replied looking up at his own shackles.

Xanatos then reached up to the one on the elder's right wrist and despite it being of solid metal, was able to tear it open in one go. His eyes widened a bit as he looked down at his hands; he shouldn't have been able to do that without the force (well maybe with a bit of effort but that easily, no.) And then it hit him…he hadn't been drugged at all, his suppressants where all in the cuffs. He shot a hand out towards the door and sent a blast of force towards it. And just as he had expected the door flew open, crumpling up in the middle.

He grinned, now that he had the force back, it would be only a matter of time before he would be out of there. He pulled off the rest of the chancellor's shackles and without a second thought, stepped out into the white halls.

With the force returned to him, he tuned into it and tried to sense anyone he could. The first and clearest was that of Anakin, and Palpatine had told him that Anakin and Reeft where put together. So if he found Anakin then he found Garen. That only left Obi-Wan and Alliya, whom he felt as well, a bit unclear but they where there.

"This way" he gestured for Palpatine to follow in the direction that he sensed Anakin. Best meet up with them first before going off to find the other two.

Suddenly as he began to walk, the ground began to shake. He heard the sound of metal crashing to the ground somewhere in the distance, and looked up to find bits of the ceiling crumbling.

"Sithspit" he cursed rather loudly. He turned back to the Chancellor "We have to hurry, come" he ordered as he dashed off in the direction of Anakin's presence.

It felt like forever before he felt Anakin draw closer until he turned the corner and suddenly collided with two others at a three way intersection in the halls. He immediately looked up and pulled a fighting stance with his bare fists. And saw, bearing stances ready to fight in front of him was Anakin, and to his side was the young man he recognized to be Reeft.

Reeft was the first one to leave his stance and stand up straight. He had smooth auburn shoulder length hair to match his light brown eyes. His jaw was well sculpted and further brought out the deep cleft in his chin. He was one of the order's best and was relieved beyond belief to see his friends alive and in one piece. "Oh, it's you guys" he let out his breath, but gasped as he saw Garen "Shit, what happened to you?" He surveyed the form of his best friend.

"Don't even ask" Garen shook his head slowly.

Reeft then turned to Xanatos "Where are Obi-Wan and Alliya?"

"They're on the other side of the Prisoner's Quarters" Xanatos answered "I can sense them."

"Good, because I lost them a while back" Anakin sighed.

The ground suddenly gave another tremor and all four men did their best to keep their balance. The ceiling showered dust upon them.

"Shavit, I told them not to do any heavy damage to the ship!" Reeft growled looking around "We have to get out of here, no doubt it's going to fall apart in no time."

"You and Garen get out of here" Anakin said "He needs some serious medical attention. Xanatos and I'll go find Obi-Wan and Alliya, since we're both alright."

"Sounds good" Reeft said as he took Garen over from Anakin.

"Be safe alright?" Garen advised "Both of you."

"And take these, just in case" Reeft said pulling two comm. Links out of his pocket and handing Xanatos and Anakin one each "Call if anything goes wrong."

"We will" Xanatos and Anakin both nodded. And with that the two took off in the direction opposite their rooms, where Xanatos knew lay his former apprentice and Alliya. All the way, the ship plummeting into worse and worse condition to the point where the two Jedi had to watch their every step for falling objects.

It wasn't until they where almost at their destination that one of them became severely injured.

They where racing down their last hallways when suddenly an unusually large chunk of the ceiling fell between Xanatos and Anakin. Xanatos, being the one that had been leading them, managed to outrun it. Anakin however attempted to step back from the falling item. Though as he did, a sharp uneven edge slashed deeply through not only a part of his arm, but his lower leg as well, causing him to collapse on the spot.

Xanatos spun around in panic "Anakin?!" he called over the enormous object that had fallen between them, filling up most of the hall.

"Force!" Anakin growled, looking down at the damage done to his leg "Xan, I won't be able to walk like this, just go and get Obi-Wan and Alliya!"

Xanatos hesitated.

"Just go!" Anakin shouted.

Xanatos took a deep breath "I'll be back for you Anakin, just hang in there." And with that he took off down the hall once more.

And after eternities running, his heart pounding in his chest and his thoughts racing, he finally reached the end of the hall. However once he reached the end he realized it split in two directions.

One to the right, and the other to the left. Each was incredibly long, for he couldn't see or feel the ends of them for a while. He was shot over which direction to follow and barely managed to jump out of the way of a sheet of steel that nicked just above his eye. He felt the cold air stinging at the wound and immediately realized he had earned himself a scar. And was given no time to dwell upon it as another deadly object flew towards him from above. He needed to find his two friends…fast. Before they all died with this death trap. He quickly focused on both presences…

Xanatos suddenly felt his heart sink, as he realized…Obi-Wan was held in the cell farthest to the right, and Alliya…farthest to the left.

And he only had time to go for one.

**I KNOW IT'S THE CRAZIEST CLIFFHANGER IN THE WORLD, DON'T KILL ME!!!**

**I kind of wanted to have Xanatos and Anakin seduced in a similar way to show how the sith know what's behind not the Jedi mind, but the human mind. Because after all a Jedi is still a human.**

**I hope this wasn't as rushed and anti-climactic as it sounded to me. Reeft is introduced here, I might bring him up a few more times but he won't be anyone as important as Garen. How did the image of Reeft sound to you guys?**

**Well, anywwho, I hope you liked this one and I promise I'll have the next one as soon as I can because next week is midterms!!! 80 **

**Ah well, tell me what you thought! Review!**


	4. Choice

**First thing's first Happy Birthday ObiBettina7!!! I discovered from Einaffee's super awesome story Who Is The Phantom Menace Anyway? that it was your birthday and I sat down at my laptop and went "Goddammit no more procrastinating! I am finishing this chapter for her on her birthday even if it kills me!!" Lol so now here we are, everyone virtually sing a warm Happy Birthday to one of my best reviewers and a great writer ObiBettina7!! This one's for you, so Enjoy!!**

**Oh, and plus for the first flashback, if any of you have read my story Father and Son you'll recognize it as the Prologue except it's with Xanatos instead of Qui-Gon XD I got a tad lazy there XD But the flashbacks were done by request and I hope you guys like it!!**

**And finally, WARNING FOR A SOMEWHAT MORBID AND DEPRESSING ENDING 0.o**

**Enjoy! XD**

_Xanatos suddenly felt his heart sink, as he realized…Obi-Wan was held in the cell farthest to the right, and Alliya…farthest to the left._

_And he only had time to go for one. _

Xanatos's mind suddenly went into freeze and his heart stopped. He really had to choose. Honestly there was no way he could save both of them and get out alive. But…how could he possibly choose between the young man that was his son and the woman that was his love?

Xanatos's eyes darted from his left to his right. Which path-which person? Memories suddenly bombarded him…memories that would be lost with the person he left behind…

His son…

"_Master?"_

"_Hm"_

"_Push me!"_

"_Not now Obi-Wan I'm busy."_

_Xanatos said absentmindedly as he continued to read his data-pad. _

_The two where at a park a bit off the temple. Yoda had advised them to go out and get some fresh air before their first official mission, and the park was the best place both Master and Padawan could think of. As soon as they reached the park Obi-Wan ran over to the swings and Xanatos leaned against the fence behind the swings and began to read a data-pad. "Come on master! Push me!" 9 year old Obi-Wan Kenobi pleaded. _

"_Obi-Wan I'm busy" Xanatos muttered._

"_Come on master! We're going on the mission tomorrow! You could always read the data-pad on the way!" the Padawan said truthfully._

"_One more word and I'll push you alright; I'll force push you right off the swings." Xanatos said with a hint of humor in his voice._

"_Fine! Let's see you do it!" Obi-Wan teased._

"_Obi-Wan, please" Xanatos said a bit sternly. _

"_Please push me….." Obi-Wan's voice softened a great deal "Daddy…"_

_Xanatos felt himself twitch upon hearing that word. A pang of guilt struck his heart as he looked up to meet tearing blue green eyes. He stuffed the data-pad into his pocket and walked up behind the boy. "Obi-Wan…..I'm not your father" he said giving a small push. _

"_But you're like my father" Obi-Wan said as he felt three strong fingers push into his back and move him forward._

"_You already have a father and he loves you very much" Xanatos said softly. _

"_But not as much as you"_

_Push_

_Xanatos gave a long heavy sigh "No one loves you more than your parents… always remember that" he began to push the boy a bit harder causing his braid to occasionally whip behind him and hit the older man, but he didn't mind. _

"_No one except you" Obi-Wan piped. He was enjoying this. The wind blowing in his face and the occasional three fingered push on his back. _

"_Why do you think of me as a father?" Xanatos asked out of curiosity. _

_Obi-Wan put a foot down, abruptly stopping the swing. He turned his head to meet his master's midnight blue eyes. "Because…." He took a deep breath "because I love you…daddy."_

_Xanatos got a rather odd feeling inside. A warm fuzzy kind of feeling. But before he could say anything Obi-Wan jumped off the swing and ran off. Xanatos smiled._

His love…

"_I really don't know anymore…I still have nightmares about it…" Xanatos sighed heavily as he buried his face into his hands "And to top it off I've got Obi-Wan to deal with, and he's probably in the same state as me. He was pretty close to Terry too you know…"_

"_I know" Alliya whispered drawing her legs a bit closer to herself "I know…"_

_The two sat on the floor of Alliya's room, leaning against the wall. Arms pressed up against one another, trying to somewhat ease each other's pain. It'd been almost 3 weeks since the death of their third friend, Terry Muln, and neither of them where doing too good. _

"_I mean he was practically my brother…and I saw him and…I couldn't do anything…" Xanatos trailed off "I can see it so clearly in those nightmares…it's like everything is just darkness around me right now…" Xanatos turned to meet his friend's aquamarine eyes. _

"_Force, Xan, you have to stop this, it hurts me to see you like this. I mean I honestly know how you feel but you can't just let it out like this. You have to be strong, because when people like me and Obi-Wan see this it only brings us down…that the one person that's the most respectable and powerful amongst us is broken is such a way…" Alliya explained "I know that you're human to Xan, but you're not helping yourself by sitting here and moping around!"_

"_So what do you want me to do?" Xanatos asked, a bit irritated. Force, they couldn't even let him release his angst in peace._

"_Look, life is like that messed up old speeder of Qui-Gon's" Alliya began "You know how when it rains you have to hit like 500 different buttons to close the sunroof and to turn the windshield wiper on and to keep the windshield itself from fogging?"_

_Xanatos raised a brow at the somewhat random statement, but still nodded._

"_And to top it off, that thing has a hole punctured through the front so the water always gets into the machinery and kills off the lights. So you have to search for the buttons for your sunroof and windshield wiper, and it's the most frustrating thing in the world," Alliya took a deep breath "trying to fix things when it's all dark…"_

_Xanatos finally saw where this was going._

"_But then after forever's worth of frustration and unhappiness with the situation, somehow in the end you always end up finding all the switches, and getting the lights back on, and everything's alright again…" Alliya ended softly._

_Xanatos thought for a moment. "You know, as odd as that comparison was…especially at a time like this, I think it helped" he said with a small chuckle. _

"_Hey, you think of something better" Alliya huffed. _

_Xanatos gave a small laugh, causing Alliya to laugh a bit as well._

"_Thanks for this…" Xanatos smiled as he turned to face her "I needed it."_

"_I know you did" Alliya returned the smile "You should go home."_

_Xanatos raised a brow._

"_Go, Obi-Wan needs you more than me."_

Xanatos closed his eyes at the precious memories of both people. One of which he would never see again.

But suddenly those last words hit him. "_**Go, Obi-Wan needs you more than me."**_

Xanatos closed his eyes as realization hit him. Obi-Wan _did _need him more than her. But could he really leave Alliya like that?

Xanatos knew he had to think this through, really decide on who he should go for. But his legs had other ideas, and before he knew it he was shooting down the hallway to the right. To Obi-Wan.

_I'll be back for you Alliya. I don't care if the odds are against it…I will be back for you._

He told himself as he ran down the crumbling hallway, dodging various raining parts. His feet pounded against the ground and a push of the force behind his every step. His mind vaguely registered the dull throbbing in the scar above his right eye, and then the warm liquid that dripped down his face as he blinked. He thought of rubbing the blood away, but decided against it as he finally approached the end of the hallway and the door at it.

He most definitely didn't hesitate to kick the white door in and barge into the room.

Xanatos's heart skipped a beat as his eyes fell upon the bruised and bloody form of his former apprentice. "Obi-Wan?" he called urgently as he approached the younger man.

Obi-Wan slowly lifted his head off his chest and took a moment to recognize the other. "Xanatos…" he muttered, trying to sound relieved.

"Force, what did they do to you?" Xanatos muttered as he rushed over and untied his friend. Obi-Wan promptly collapsed onto Xanatos the second his binds left him, and Xanatos didn't hesitate to catch him in a secure hold.

"Obi-Wan!" he called to the young man.

"Wha' 'appened to you?" Obi-Wan slurred gesturing at the cut over Xanatos's eye.

"That's nothing. Listen to me, can you walk?" Xanatos asked hurriedly.

"Not really" Obi-Wan muttered, barely able to keep his eyes open. The warmth from Xanatos's body offered the entire galaxy's worth of comfort and he was finding it very hard to remain conscious. "I think…something's broken…something important at that…"

"Can you at least stay awake for me?" Xanatos asked, his eyes darting back and forth upon his former apprentice's bloody face.

Obi-Wan took a deep breath and eased his head slowly into Xanatos's chest.

"Sithspit!" Xanatos cursed loudly into the empty room. Firstly because Obi-Wan definitely looked like he needed some serious medical attention and secondly because escaping would be a lot harder with an unconscious 32 year old man over his shoulder.

Nevertheless he took a deep breath and gently lifted Obi-Wan onto his shoulder. And just as he was about to head for the door three things happened.

First his comm.. link went off, and then at the same time the lights above his head began to flicker and he lost his grasp of Alliya's force presence.

Immediately a million and one thoughts shot through his head but he forced himself to focus and retrieve the comm... from his belt.

"Reeft?" he called shakily into the unit.

"Yes, it's me, listen Xanatos, I've got Anakin and we're heading back to the hangar. I wasn't able to contact my clone unit to let them know we where still in here so they've probably carried out their plan to bomb your side of the ship. If that's the case then you have five minutes max to get the hell out of there and get to the hangar. You have to hurry!"

"I can't do that Reeft, I've got Obi-Wan…" Xanatos called as he gripped the comm.. tighter and ran out the door "I have to go for Alliya." He stated simply; focusing harder he'd sensed that she'd only lost conscience, which is why he had lost his grip on her.

"NO! Xanatos you can't do that, I tried to go for her before I brought Anakin back, but the hallway leading to her has completely collapsed. It's blocking off the entire corridor and you'll be there forever if you try to break it down. I'm sorry Xanatos but told you don't have time!"

"I will go for her Reeft, I can't loose her, and I don't plan on doing so either" Xanatos growled, bounding down the hall as fast as he could.

"Xanatos, please, if you try you'll get both yourself and Obi-Wan killed! Plus-" but that was all Xanatos allowed before he roughly shoved the comm. into the closest wall, shattering it to pieces. He really didn't want or need to hear anymore.

All he wanted to know or hear now was that he was going to find Alliya now and he was going to get the hell out of this death trap. And that sacrifice was not an option.

So after running for what seemed like forever to him, Xanatos finally reached the intersection between the exit and the hallway leading to Alliya. And much to his horror, just as Reeft had said, the entire left hallway had closed in and clouded by a thick layer of dust.

"Shavit!" Xanatos screamed at the mess. He thrust a hand in the direction of it and attempted to clear it out, but ended up causing the entire floor above them to collapse upon the already blocked off hall. "No!" Xanatos screamed at it once more as if it would clear if he did so.

He brought his hand out once more to try and clear up the path but stopped suddenly as he felt something off through the force.

_Xanatos, run! Please go back to the ship, staying back will only cause you death. Please, go!_

Xanatos shook his head a very familiar voice penetrated his thoughts.

He froze. The last time he heard a voice in his head (that wasn't Obi-Wan) he was in the middle of a duel with his grandmaster gone sith lord, and it had lead him to victory.

And this time, as crazy as it sounded (to him at least) that sounded like just the thing that Alliya would have said to him in a situation like this. He knew Obi-Wan was like their son and she would give her life for him in a heartbeat.

So when Reeft pulled on his arm once more he took a step back to follow. And then with one hesitant glance he _knew_ he had to leave.

Once Reeft realized the older was ready to cooperate, he released his arm and began to lead the way. "Come on, hurry!"

Xaantos glanced one final time before he joined Reeft in a run towards the hangar. He remained a step behind, as Obi-Wan's weight was slowing him down a bit.

Reeft, knowing this, carefully lead them out of the prisoner's ward (Xanatos was so happy to be away from those white walls that were driving him crazy), the crumbling ship raining on them the entire way. And after what seemed like an eternity of running, the two barged into the enormous hangar that was very close to falling apart.

Reeft was more than glad to see the ramp to his ship lowered and Anakin standing at the top. He seemed to be gesturing for them to hurry and Reeft had every intention to oblige. He in turn showed for Xanatos to follow and together they bound off towards the ship. They vaguely saw Anakin calling an order over his shoulder, and the ramp beginning to rise.

The two off board Jedi quickened their pace and once they were close enough, with one swift an elegant jump, leaped into the ship with only second before the ramp's complete rise.

But the second Xanatos's boots made contact with the steel of the ship's floor, he lowered Obi-Wan to the ground and turned back swiftly towards the door.

"Alright, we're all here so get us the hell out of this death trap, come on, put everything you've got into it, take off _immediately_!" Reeft shouted orders.

"No!" Xanatos screamed at the now sealed ramp. It had suddenly really hit him that he was about to leave Alliya behind. The woman that had been there for him through everything, the woman he loved more than life itself…he was going to leave her. "NO!" The shout tore out of his throat and hot stinging tears began to burn in the back of his eyes. "NO!" this time he slammed his fist against the steel, denting it the slightest bit.

"NO, NO, NO!" he shouted, hitting the ramp with all the strength in his body. This wasn't happening to him, this just couldn't have been happening to him…

He barely heard Reeft's soft call for him to calm down, or Anakin's affirmative to the pilots to go into hyperspace. All that mattered to him at the moment was that he was leaving Alliya back, he was leaving her to die. That and the screams that released somewhat of the sheer pain and agony that was coursing through his body. The screams that were filled with so much emotion, that anyone watching stopped what they were doing and stared. Stared at one man's suffering. Reeft gave up trying to stop him and simply watched. Anakin stopped shouting orders and simply watched. The pilots, once having done what they had to do, stopped and watched. Even the medics that had come in to bring Obi-Wan in for medical attention stopped. All felt sympathy for the man, but knew they could do nothing for him.

"NO! LET ME GO! I LOVE HER, PLEASE!" Xanatos screamed once more with a weak hit to the steel. He lowered his head until his forehead touched the cool surface of the metal and whispered a barely audible "No…" Followed by a much more powerful protest of No. He opened his mouth to shout once more but suddenly something hit him. Something so mentally overpowering, that for a second, it blurred his vision, his senses, everything. And after a split second of hell bent pain-it disappeared. And sick realization settled in, as Xanatos suddenly realized that his bond with Alliya had just been severed.

And that she was dead.

-----

_"It's alright...believe me it is...I love you too."_

**Aw..poor Alliya *one single tear* I guess it had to be done since all of you guys would have come and mauled me if I killed Obi-Wan XD The next ones gonna be up sooner and it'll be Xanatos's dealing with the loss. So stay tuned peoples and I'll see you in the next one!! **

**Review!!**


	5. Return

**Hey guys, I'd really meant to upload this by Christmas but I didn't have the greatest grasp on internet where I was so I couldn't exactly get around to it. Super sorry, but here's one for you guys before the new year =] My last ever update in '09 Woohoo! And the last time in '09 that I ever say Enjoy! XD**

Xanatos Omega stared numbly ahead at the young man before him.

It was as though he was looking through the injured knight. And he kind of was. The only thing in his mind that was relatively related to Obi-Wan was the vague fact that the younger's limp hand was clasped loosely in both of his.

His mind was on other things. His half past injured friends for example.

Reeft had gotten an enormous gash on the side of his left arm while coming back for Xanatos (who suspected it was going to scar.)

Anakin's wounds were just as bad and the less said about Obi-Wan the better.

And force…Alliya.

Xanatos couldn't even think about her straight. It made his head spin, his body ache and his heart hurt. The more he thought about her, the more his overactive imagination wondered about how exactly she had died. And force did it kill him inside to think of that.

He still couldn't believe he had left her. It just felt so unrealistic. Alliya being dead.

Xanatos quickly shook his head. He didn't want to think about that now…

Suddenly, the hand in his twitched, causing him to look up to the young man in front of him. He saw Obi-Wan slowly drift back into conscience.

"What happened?" he muttered slowly as he sat up.

"You almost died, that's what happened" Xanatos said with a fake smile. "Don't ever do that to me again, Obi-Wan." And with that he pulled the younger man into his arms.

Obi-Wan was taken by surprise. Something wasn't right. He felt as though something was tearing Xanatos apart inside and yet he was refusing to show it. "Xan, what's wrong?"

Obi-Wan felt the older man's grip on him tighten. "Alliya's dead."

The statement was spoken so simply that he thought he had misheard the older man. "Excuse me?" he muttered in disbelief, trying to pull away from him, but Xanatos held him tighter.

"A-Alliya...she's dead" Xanatos choked up.

"W-what happened?" Obi-Wan dared to ask.

"I left her."

"You left her-why would you-"

"To save you."

The last words spoke by his former master silenced him. Xanatos had left Alliya for the dead...to save...him? He had given up the love of his life...to save him?

"Xan.." he whispered pulling away from the older man and putting a hand on each of his shoulders "I-I'm sorry I-"

"It's not your fault, Obi-Wan" Xanatos hung his head "It was my own decision."

Obi-Wan wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"But let's not think about that now...ok?" Xanatos said looking up "I was about to lose you. I was about to lose my son. You know nothing in the world scares me more right?" his voice shook a little with the last words.

Obi-Wan simply stared at him with a blank expression.

Xanatos put a hand on either side of Obi-Wan's face and pulled it close so their foreheads were touching "You're safe, that's all that matters."

Obi-Wan could see the heartbreak in the older man's eyes. The unshed tears, the pain and torture he was trying to push aside. And in one swift movement, he pulled his former master back into an embrace.

Suddenly the ship gave a thunderous shake.

Xanatos cursed loudly. The last time that had happened he lost the love of his life.

His comm. Link went off and he wasted no time to retrieve it.

"Hello?"

"Xanatos, it's me, Reeft. One of the separatist ships followed us here. We're shot, I don't know where exactly but I think we lost something important. I've already taken care of the ship that was following us, I do need you to help me land though. Please get to the cockpit as soon as you can."

"Got it, I'll be there in a second."

With that he hung up, stowed his comm and stood "You heard him" he said turning to Obi-Wan "I have to go."

Obi-Wan simply nodded, allowing his former master off.

Xanatos wasted no time bounding into the cockpit and taking the pilot seat next to Reeft. He examined the situation as the younger man flipped a few switches. "How is Obi-Wan doing?" he asked quickly.

"Good, better, he woke up" Xanatos answered with a small sigh as he strapped himself in.

"What about Garen?"

"He's doing better as well. They fixed him up good. He should be able to walk now."

"That's good. Listen, we're gonna have a hell of a time landing this thing so you're gonna have to help me out here" Reeft said finally turning to Xanatos, who nodded. "Alright, open all hatches, and extend all flaps and drive shoots."

Xanatos reached over to the controls and did as he was told.

In a second's time the ship shot forward, however the sudden speed caused the back half of the enormous starship to tear completely off.

Xanatos froze and looked around "We lost something" he blanched.

"Not to worry, we are still flying half a ship" Reeft remarked dryly as he checked an overhead screen for what they had lost.

"Eh, that half of the ship was empty anyways...though we might have lost some clones..." Xanatos muttered. He hit a switch and cursed out loud "Now we're really picking up speed..."

At that moment, flames erupted around the entire ship and several part flew off from the back.

Both Reeft and Xanatos decided to ignore it for the time being. Xanatos looked over to one of the nearby screens "Alright, we're in the atmosphere" he announced.

"Keep us leveled-as much as possible at the moment" Reeft ordered. Xanatos grabbed a handle to his right and thrust it back, evening out the nose dive they were in the slightest bit.

They shot through the thick clouds of the atmosphere, burning chunks of metal falling from the ship. "Steady..." Xanatos growled to himself, trying to keep a hold on the level.

The second they burst through the clouds, the city of Coruscant came clear. It relieved both men to be able to see where exactly it was that they were heading. Not that they were very reassured towards the fact that they were heading for several buildings, but still...

Xanatos noticed the fire service ships pull up around them and begin to deflame the ship. "5,000" he said checking the rough estimate of their distance from the ground "Fire ships on the left and the right" he informed his partner.

"We'll take you in" one of the fire pilots called through the intercom.

"Copy that" Reeft replied. "There we go! Landing field straight ahead!" he called over to Xanatos.

"Yes, but we're coming in too hot!" Xanatos growled.

"Coming in too hot-save it for the fan club, Xanatos!" Reeft smirked. **(A/N: Come on people, I'm not the only one whose seen that icon before. And I just think it fits Xanatos a lot better than Anakin is all. It was just too tempting to pass up XD)**

Despite the situation, even Xanatos had to smile at that. "Well on the bright side, at least we're not diving anymore, as a matter of fact we're almost leveled out too."

"Yeah but we're still...'coming in too hot" Reeft exclaimed as some alarm or other began ringing out in the cockpit.

Xanatos opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off as the ship hit the ground of the landing field. Reeft could already tell, they'd lost the complete hull. There went another dozen clones...He winced a bit as they sped past a control tower, not only knocking it over, but also demolishing it underneath them. And thankfully after destroying about another 200 feet of runway, they screeched to a loud, uncomfortable halt.

Both Reeft and Xanatos let out a breath they weren't aware they were holding.

"Another happy landing" Reeft muttered running a hand through his smooth chocolate colored hair.

"I'm gonna go see if the others are alright, you go check on the remaining clones, if there are any and escort the Chancellor out" Xanatos sighed as he threw off his seat belts and walked exasperatedly out of the cockpit.

In about a half an hour's time they had managed to evacuate the ship and get sent off in a private transport to the Senate Hall. They'd decided that Garen would be their representative, seeing that the council had demanded at least three of them to return and report. The transport had dropped Garen and the Chancellor off at the Senate Hall and then headed off to the Jedi Temple with the remaining Jedi and four surviving clones.

"Chancellor Palpatine, are you alright?" Mace Windu asked as the chancellor and Garen approached the hall.

"Yes, thanks to your Jedi Knights. They were brave in their deeds, but...General Grievous has escaped once again..." Palpatine answered.

"General Grievous will run and hide as he always does. He is a coward-"

"But he is the leader of the droid army and I assure you the senate will continue to vote this war on as long as he is alive" Palpatine cut the Jedi Master off.

"Then the Jedi Council will make it their highest priority to find and terminate him" Mace nodded, then gestured ahead for Palpatine, who gladly stepped forward.

Garen fell back in the crowd of senators that were surrounding the chancellor now.

"I congratulate you and your friends" Bail Organa spoke as he approached the young Jedi.

Garen turned to face him "Yes, well we might have saved the life of the chancellor but in the process we lost a close friend of our own..." He himself had only been informed in the ship's med-bay. It was Anakin that had let him know. A sad and pained truth.

"You lost one of your own-who?" Bail asked incredulously.

"Master Alliya Taro" Garen answered with a sigh.

"Ah, well I am sorry for your loss" Bail shook his head sadly.

"Thank you, senator" Garen nodded. From the corner of his eye he saw none other than Padme Amidala standing behind one of the near by columns that he and Bail were passing. "Excuse me" he said curtiuosly to the senator.

"Of course" Bail smiled and walked on.

Garen immediately fell back and began to walk towards Padme as fast as he could (with the slight limp that was on his left leg, it was a bit hard.) But as soon as they were close enough, Padme jumped into his arms and he held her for the longest time.

"I've missed you" she said, pulling away only far enough to look him in the piercing green eyes.

"I know, I've missed you too. I've been in the outer rim for far too long" Garen smiled.

"You're telling me. Why are you limping, what happened?" Padme asked with a playful smirk.

"I almost got killed back on Grievous's ship. We all did. Alliya-she was killed" Garen's voice lowered to a whisper at the last few words.

"That's terrible! Is Xanatos alright?" Padme gasped in shock.

"I don't know, he looked alright, but I'm sure he was just trying to be strong for us. He'll be alright though. Xanatos is a fighter, and we all know that" Garen answered. "But enough about that, I just don't want to think about the past few days now..."

"I know, it's alright" Padme whispered kissing him lightly on the lips. She brought her face up to brush her cheek against his, then rested her head softly on his chest.

Garen held her securely for a while before furrowing his brows. "You're shaking, what's wrong?" he asked looking down at her.

"Garen..." she whispered pulling slowly away from him "I..."

"Come on, what's going on?" Garen asked, putting his hands on her shoulders.

She hesitated for a moment before looking up at him "Garen...I'm pregnant."

At that point in time, Garen wasn't sure how to feel. It was like the time Padme had first kissed him way back when on Kaikelius. He wasn't sure if he should be happy or mortified.

"I..Padme that's..." he started to say but trailed off. He didn't even know what to say.

His stomach dropped a bit when he saw Padme's expression fall. Hard. He turned away for a moment before finally finding words to express his emotions. "I promised myself I wouldn't do this to you..."

Padme furrowed her brows.

"I promised myself I wouldn't doom you to the fate of going through all this with a Jedi like myself" Garen continued "You deserve better than having to hide the identity of the father of your children, than to be with someone like me who can't even be there for you half the time. Especially at times like this. And most of all you deserve someone who will at least marry you before this-I-I haven't even been able to do that!"

"I've never asked any of that from you have I?" Padme whispered, placing her hands on his chest.

"No, but you deserve it" Garen protested.

"Have I ever told you I wanted it?" Padme said, ignoring his previous statement.

"No, but-"

"Please, Garen, for once stop thinking about others and think about yourself" Padme spoke.

Garen hesitated for a moment "I've been trained against doing so..."

"You've also been trained against what you're doing this very instant" Padme countered.

Garen hesitated once again. He put his arms softly around her and his forehead to hers. "I love you..."

"I do too, but what about...this?" Padme whispered.

"This...is wonderful, Padme. A child...is an incredible gift. And if you're ready then I'm ready" he replied with a smile.

"And the council-"

"Is my problem. I'll deal with that. You need to rest...and take care of yourself, alright?"

"Alright."

* * *

"Ah, returned you have" spoke Master Yoda as three Jedi, Reeft, Xanatos and Anakin entered the Council Chambers.

"Yes master" Reeft spoke as the trio bowed at the center of the room.

"The loss of Master Alliya Taro is one we regret deeply, and we will miss her" Plo Koon began, getting straight to the point. "Can you begin your briefing?"

Xanatos looked around and found the absence of Mace a bit unnerving, nevertheless before either of his younger companions could reply, he began.

This was one tale he needed to tell himself.

**Alright guys, I know it's a bit short compared to my usual chapters but that was it. Garen's gonna be a daddy! =] Wonder where this is gonna go *whistles inconspicuously* lol I tried not to overdo the Garen Padme thing cause you have to remember I myself don't like cliche kissy mushy garbage so..yeah XD **

**For the last time in '09 Review!**


	6. Vision and Comfort

**Hey guys, here's the next one for you. Sorry it took a bit, I had a little writers block in the beginning....Wow....that's all I have to say. It feels so weird having absolutely nothing else to say....**

**Anywho, Enjoy!**

_A hand. There was a hand, gripping a lightsaber. A blue blade snapped to life. The hand made a quick movement and severed a pipe. A gas pipe. _

_The flammable gas leaked into the temple ventilation, spreading throughout the entire building. _

_Fire. There was fire everywhere. _

_There was the hand again, gripping his blue lightsaber. He was a Jedi. No...there was a dark aura to him...a traitor? He was walking very quickly._

__

He was walking very fast.

"Ani, help me! Please!" the unmistakable voice of Shmi Skywalker cried as the crèche around her went up in flames. Several young children clung to her as she screamed for help, but none came. The imaee of her pleading face flashed clearly once more before the entire crèche became a flammable deathtrap, blowing everything and everyone within 50 feet into smithereens.

And with that final image, Anakin Skywalker drew a sharp intake of air. His mind was racing and his heart, pounding. Sweat rolled down his forehead and the last thing he saw before blacking out was the form of his (much worried) master stepping forward to catch him as he fell.

* * *

_"Anakin…"_

That was the first sound he heard upon awaking. The soft voice of his master calling his name.

"Anakin, please, if you can hear me try to move, contact me through the bond, anything, just let me know..."

Anakin mentally groaned (as he found himself incapable to do so aloud.) Then for the sake of his master, forced his eyes open, even the slightest bit.

"Thanks the force" Garen let out a breath "Come on now" he said softly as he put a hand behind Anakin's back and helped him sit up. "That's it, there we go."

Anakin looked around and recognized himself to be at a corner of the training ward. Suddenly he remembered; he and Garen had been sparring all afternoon. Garen had insisted he needed to get his thoroughly weakened leg back into practice. Plus he also had to get his own injured arm working again, though he was sure as much as Garen was pushing himself, the fact that he continually collapsed over and over didn't help. And about an hour or so into the spar, Anakin was hot, sweaty and definitely a bit past reckless when suddenly he was barraged by all those horrid images. And then he fainted.

Nevertheless he still couldn't help but look up at his master and groan "What happened?"

"I'm not too sure, but as far as I know, you fainted in the middle of an attack on me. So you tell me" Garen replied, reaching out to a nearby bench and pulling a glass of cold water over to his apprentice "Here, take this, you've been out for a while now."

"Thank you" he said briefly before downing the entire glass in one go. "I think…I had a vision" he said slowly once he was done.

"A vision?" Garen furrowed his brows "You haven't had a vision since-" he cut himself off and it seemed Anakin had gotten the message as well. Since Qui-Gon.

"Which is what worries me" Anakin frowned. Especially since this was about my mother…

"Would you like to talk?" Garen asked worriedly.

"No…not now at least. I think I want to meditate on this a little before I tell anyone" Anakin shook his head.

"Fine by me" Garen shrugged as he stood up "Go take a quick shower and we'll head home, you can mediate then." He reached a hand down for his younger companion, which Anakin gladly took.

Garen wasn't exactly sure what happened in the next hour or so. He had gone to the showers alongside his apprentice, but upon exiting, found the younger was nowhere to be seen. He decided Anakin must have left without him and let it be. Though once he returned to his quarters, he found Anakin wasn't present there either. Only a bit worried he'd headed out to search for his wayward apprentice (after attempting to contact him through the bond and finding shields in place, then calling his comm. and hearing it ringing in the other room of course.)

And then after about a half an hour of running up and down the hallways of the temple (because apparently no one had seen his padawan all day) he came to a stop in the middle of an intersection. Pausing for a breath he looked around the eerily empty hallways.

_What I do for that boy..._

He sighed hopelessly. The suddenly realized he wasn't too far off from the quarters of his dear friend, Xanatos Omega. And he knew, that if anyone in the world were to know the whereabouts of his apprentice, then it would be Xanatos. Plus he could seriously do with a therapeutic talk right about now.

So with that thought, Garen followed the hallway to his right and headed to the quarters Xanatos and Obi-Wan shared.

He came to a stop in front of the door less that two minutes later. He looked at the almost forty year old sign that read **Omega/Kenobi **with the "m" in Omega and "o" in Kenobi slightly fading. And for a second wondered what he would do without his two closest friends in the world.

With a small smile he knocked on the door. And less than a second later the door was answered by none other than Xanatos himself.

"Garen, how's it going?" Xanatos smiled faintly upon seeing the younger. He stepped aside to allow him in.

"Nothing much really, just ran my weak leg through hours of strenuous work and then proceeded to have lost my padawan again is all, do you know where he is?" Garen asked stepping into the living room "Where's Obi-Wan?"

"He and Reeft went out to find you a minute ago" Xanatos sighed, ignoring Garen's previous question "Reeft decided he as well as the two of you could definitely use a drink after all that's been going on. They were going to head over to Vinolentus. I'm considering joining."

"Feel free, you look like you could use a drink" Garen said as he flopped down on one of the sofas "How are you?"

"Good I guess..." Xanatos looked down. He took a seat across from the younger man "I'm holding up..."

"I know how you feel" Garen chuckled dryly.

"The lies you speak after just having seen Padme" Xanatos shook his head.

Garen smiled looking down. A small silence came over them before Xanatos spoke.

"Speaking of Padme…Obi-Wan and I dropped by her place just yesterday and we had a nice chat. I noticed something though, that she didn't deem important enough to tell me herself...." he paused, eying Garen cautiously "...She's pregnant."

"How do you know?" Garen forced himself to sound calm.

"I sensed it-the baby" Xanatos corrected.

Silence came over once again.

"You're the father aren't you?" Xanatos spoke after a while.

"Yes" Garen sighed; there was no use in denying it, especially to Xanatos.

"The..." Xanatos hesitated "...child is force sensitive. Very detectable" he stated.

"I'm not too sure if that's a good thing" Garen muttered looking down "I didn't mean for this to happen, Xanatos."

"I know" Xanatos nodded "You can relax, this conversation won't be leaving these four walls."

"Thanks" Garen smiled the slightest bit at the older man, who returned it. "Does Obi-Wan know?"

"I haven't told him, but I don't think I need to. He probably got the hint" Xanatos replied. "I'm sure even if he knew he wouldn't approach you on the topic. He'll wait for you to tell him yourself."

"I know. I think I will talk to him about it-As a matter of fact I think I'm going to go find him right now" Garen said standing up.

"He'll be wandering around with Reeft searching for you so it shouldn't be so hard" Xanatos's eyes followed as the younger man made for the door.

"Thanks for the talk, Xanatos, I really appreciate it" Garen said, as the door slid open in front of him.

"Anytime, Garen, anytime. Oh, and to answer your previous question, I believe Anakin is in the room of a thousand fountains, meditating" Xanatos said with a rather mischievous smile.

Garen simply chuckled before walking out.

* * *

Xanatos Omega turned away from the holo-t.v he had been staring at all morning as the form of his slightly dazed and disheveled former apprentice walked into the living room.

"Obi-Wan, finally awake?" Xanatos's eyes followed the younger man as he approached.

"Hn...I feel like a wookie just got through with me" Obi-Wan grumbled sleepily.

"Sore?" Xanatos chuckled a bit.

"Yes and-" But before Obi-Wan could finish, his left knee suddenly gave out. And with a small gasp of surprise he began to collapse. Thankfully however, Xanatos shot forward and caught him around the shoulders before he could hit the ground.

"Easy there, kiddo. The healers said you'd be a bit weak on your feet for the first few days" Xanatos spoke soothingly as he guided the younger man to the sofa and gently seated him.

As soon as Obi-Wan sat down, he eased himself and threw his head back against the back of the sofa.

"Are you alright?" Xanatos asked with a comforting hand on the younger's shoulder.

Obi-Wan let out a breath and turned to look at Xanatos "I should be asking you."

"I mean physically" Xanatos replied.

"And I mean mentally" Obi-Wan countered.

"Obi-Wan-"

"Star's end Xanatos, just answer the question, are you ok? Are you mentally stable?!" Obi-Wan snapped harshly.

Xanatos could only stare. What was provoking such rash behavior in his normally calm apprentice was beyond him.

"I just-" Obi-Wan cut himself off looking down "The last time you lost someone so close to you, you just-" he swallowed hard.

Xanatos suddenly understood what all this was about.

"You were completely unstable-you turned into someone else and-" Obi-Wan forced himself to look Xanatos dead in the eyes "I almost lost you...."

"Hey, Obi-Wan, come on, don't talk like that, it's alright this time" Xanatos spoke softly, putting a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder.

"How do I know? Last time you lied to me, deceived me and made me believe it was ok" Obi-Wan's voice died into a small whisper "I don't want to lose you again..."

"I know, kiddo, I know" Xanatos sighed as he brought an arm around Obi-Wan and pulled the younger into a soft fatherly embrace. "I know..." he breathed into Obi-Wan's airy auburn hair.

Obi-Wan took a quick breath and buried his face into the older's chest. "Why'd you save me?"

"Because you are my son, and I can never put anyone before you" Xanatos replied simply "Ever."

"You probably would have been better off saving Alliya. She would have been able to offer you some kind of help and support unlike me, whose sitting here being comforted myself" Obi-Wan sighed.

"Obi-Wan..." Xanatos said putting both hands on his former apprentice's shoulders and looking him in the eyes "Just seeing you here in front of me, living, breathing, safe and alive is enough comfort for me."

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to reply but Xanatos spoke before he could.

"Listen, Obi-Wan, Alliya and I both loved you like a son, I still do and I'm sure, if it was up to her, she would have had me save you over herself as well" Xanatos explained quietly "I went after you because at the time you needed me more than her."

"How do I know that you won't lose it like last time?" Obi-Wan muttered looking down.

"Because this time, there is no one to blame but myself" Xanatos sighed.

"Xan-" But Obi-Wan was cut off as a knock came from the door.

Xanatos quickly stood up and went to the door. Upon answering, he saw none other than Reeft.

"Reeft, what are you doing here?" Xanatos smiled at the man.

"Nothing really, I just feel like a dead bantha is all and I figured if Obi-Wan and Garen felt the same then we should go get a drink" Reeft sighed, sounding as exhausted as he looked "You should come too, you know."

"I'll see, come in" Xanatos said inviting the younger in. To which Reeft promptly bounded in and flopped down next to Obi-Wan and put an arm around his friend's shoulder.

"Doing alright?" he asked, with a semi-concerned expression.

"I guess, a little trouble walking, but if we're going to _Vinolentus _I'm all for" Obi-Wan replied "You're right, we could use a drink. Any idea where Garen is?"

"Nope, I was hoping he would be here" Reeft frowned "I've called him a few times and he wasn't picking up either...plus I haven't seen Anakin or Senator Amidala all day to ask either of them where our wayward friend may possibly be."

"Well then" Obi-Wan sighed "There's only one thing to do...search for him."

"Good plan" Reeft said as he heaved himself off the couch "Xan, you coming?"

"No, no, you two go on ahead. I think I'll just stay home. Take a shower, watch some t.v..." Xanatos shook his head.

"Sure? Some fresh air and a drink would do you good" Obi-Wan said as he stood himself, with a little help from his friend "It'll be just like old times."

"No, I'll just pass this time" Xanatos insisted "Next time maybe."

"Alright, suit yourself" Reeft sighed, heading for the door, but if you need us you know where we'll be."

Xanatos nodded and before he knew it, the two friends were gone and he was left alone in the house. Not knowing, that approximately 20 minutes later, Garen Muln would show up at his doorsteps regarding the whereabouts of his apprentice.

**Lol, in the span of the time it took me to write this chapter I found a whole bunch of things to discuss! Yay! However, the fourth actually being important so if you're short on time or simply wish to skip past my talkings, then go on and just read the last one. **

**First off, I just wanted to discuss the chapter a bit. To clear one thing up, the second part goes before the first, I know I could have just done it right, but for some reason it appealed to me to do it the way I did =] I know this chapter was a bit slow paced but eh, it had to be done before certain other events. Plus Anakin just had another vision, this time about his mother! ~Le Gasp!! XD About Obi-Wan and Xanatos, I just wanted to show that the two of them are there for one another. Xanatos offers Obi-Wan physical comfort and Obi-Wan offers Xanatos emotional comfort...well kinda XD**

**Secondly, how many of you saw Sherlock Holmes? I saw it first day and I mean it was so awesome I can't even begin to describe it in words. It fit perfectly in characterization, plot and just about everything else. Loooooved it =] Not to mention the relationship they showed in the movie between Holmes and Watson, it was fantastic. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law had such a strong chemistry, it really brought the whole thing to life. It really resparked my interest in Sherlock Holmes XD Who knows, I might even put up a few stories XD They're due to start filming the sequel in a few months so I'm super psyched!**

**Third, how many of you like me, were sitting in front of your yesterday watching Spike TV's SW marathon?! lol, my best friend and I caught the first round of Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and while I was watching it, all the events of I.E.C, Someday and Savin' Me were sort of playing in my head along with the movies. How different things are in my stories than in the actual movies and how the characters act. And it was a weird quite unexplainable feeling XD Just thought I'd share that XD **

**Oh, plus, I just uploaded a short story that goes between Savin' Me and Someday called Days Before. I'd written it some time back but I just recently dug it up from my mounds of documents and decided to upload it =] So go check that out =]**


	7. Of Master and Apprentice

**Ok guys, here's the next one. I know it's pretty short, it actually might be one of the shortest chapters I've written in the series, but I wanted to leave it off at the place I did real bad so I had to make this a bit short. But have no fear, the next chapter is near XD **

**Enjoy!**

It was almost midnight on Coroscant.

And yet lights still shimmered from the buildings. Life still bustled around as though it were broad daylight. Amongst all the life existed as well, love. Especially from the senate building where on the veranda of the top floor stood Senator Padme Amidala, looking out into the lights.

Standing behind her, arms draped loosely around her stomach was Jedi Knight Garen Muln. His chin rested softly upon her shoulder as he slowly inhaled the fresh air, a faint blissful smile upon his face.

"We should do this every night" Garen sighed.

"Yes, sure and once you're kicked out of the order for being missing half the time we'll see who's talking" Padme retorted.

"They wouldn't. That senile old troll loves me too much" Garen chuckled.

"You know who else loves you too much?" Padme muttered turning her head to look at him.

Garen chuckled absentmindedly. It soon died into a small smile, and his gaze turned into a long stare.

"What?" Padme raised a brow.

"You…are so beautiful" Garen smiled broadly.

"It's only because I'm so in love" Padme replied.

"No, no it's because I'm so in love with you" Garen laughed.

"So love has blinded you?" Padme frowned.

"Well, no that's not exactly what I meant" Garen smirked.

"Good because then I'd have to find you and slap-" Padme broke off as she smacked him playfully across the head "the sense back into you."

"Good thing because that was starting to sound way too much like a bad soap opera…" Garen blinked.

"Tell me about it."

Both Padme and Garen laughed together.

* * *

"Premonitions? Premonitions...hmm…" Master Yoda murmured rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He was seated at his personal chambers, young Anakin Skywalker seated before him. "These visions you have…."

"They're of pain, suffering" Anakin hesitated "Death."

"Yourself you speak of, or someone you know?" Yoda questioned carefully.

"Someone" Anakin replied simply.

"Close to you?" Yoda asked.

"Yes."

"Careful you must be when sensing the future, Anakin" Yoda warned "Fear of loss is a path to the dark side!"

"I won't let these visions come true master" Anakin spoke adamantly.

"Death is a natural part of life" Yoda stated "Rejoice for those around you who transform to the force. Mourn then do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed that is… "

"What must I do master?" Anakin looked up into the troll's piercing green eyes.

"Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose" Yoda advised.

A dark look overcame the features of Anakin Skywalker.

* * *

Anakin strode quickly through the hallways of the Jedi Temple. His cloak billowed behind him and his boots clicked underneath him. Going against the flow of masters and knights pouring out of the room he ducked into the place he knew he was supposed to report at almost an hour ago.

As he entered and glided down the staircase leading to the holograph room, he saw Obi-Wan turning off the projector in the center of the room.

"You missed the report on the outer rim sieges" Obi-Wan spoke without turning to look at him.

"I'm sorry, I was held up. I have no excuse" Anakin said softly as he stopped behind Obi-Wan, his head bowed slightly.

"In short, they are going very well" Obi-Wan sighed "Saleucami has fallen and Master Vos has moved his troops to Boz Pity."

Anakin was suddenly very thankful for Obi-Wan's exceptionally forgiving nature. He noticed though, that Obi-Wan didn't look very happy despite the news he had delivered. "What's wrong then?"

"The senate is expected to vote more executive power to the chancellor tonight" Obi-Wan sighed looking away.

"Well that could only mean less deliberating and more action" Anakin replied "Is that bad? He will make it easier for us to end this war."

"Be careful of your friend Palpatine" Obi-Wan glared a bit at the younger as e began to walk past him.

"Be careful of what?" Anakin turned to face him as Obi-Wan began to descend up the stairs.

"He's requested your presence" Obi-Wan said ignoring the previous statement.

"For what?" Anakin raised a brow as he began following the older man.

"He did not say" Obi-Wan replied.

"He didn't inform the council?" Anakin furrowed his brows "That's unusual."

"All of this is unusual" Obi-Wan snapped "And it's making me feel uneasy."

* * *

Several hours later Obi-Wan found himself at his seat at the council chambers for an urgent meeting. Seated to his left was Xanatos. On his right, Reeft and a seat over from him, Garen.

Xanatos had been on the council for several years now, but for the other three newly mastered Jedi, they'd only been at the post for about a year or so. Reeft and Obi-Wan for their unspeakable accomplishments during the still ongoing Clone Wars and Garen having trained the chosen one and achieved the level of master almost five years ago.

Obi-Wan, as well as the rest of the council waited patiently, none bothering to question whom exactly they were waiting for. The answer to which only Mace and Master Yoda was aware of.

After a while, a bit to Obi-Wan's surprise, Anakin walked into the chamber. He went directly to the center and bowed to Master Yoda, avoiding eye contact with his own master as well as the other three masters he was endlessly close with.

"Ah, Anakin. Repeat your query for the rest of the council, will you?" Yoda began immediately.

"I have just returned from my meeting with the chancellor, masters" Anakin said a bit uneasily to the rest of the room "And he made a request of the council."

"And what request may that be?" the glowing blue hologram of Plo Koon asked.

"He requested that I be his personal representative…of the council" Anakin finished, eyes glued to the floor.

Obi-Wan, as well as many other members of the council furrowed their brows. Anakin…on the council? Knowing his rash, often inconsiderate personality, it would be a terrible mistake putting him on a council with only the finest masters.

"Agree with this appointment, we do not" Yoda spoke for the entire room "Disturbing is this move by chancellor Palpatine."

"I understand" Anakin said quietly.

"You will be on this council" Mace spoke sternly "But we do not grant you a higher rank."

Anakin's calm expression suddenly slipped "What?" He glanced around the room for some type of support, finally reaching Garen, who looked away from his gaze. "How can you do this? This is outrageous! It's unfair" Anakin growled, his voice wavering with both rage and hurt. "How can you be on the council and still be a kriffing padawan?!"

"Take a seat, young Skywalker" Mace spoke through gritted teeth.

Anakin's expression suddenly took a hold of itself. He bowed slightly "Forgive me master" he said slowly before turning and heading to the empty seat next to Garen.

Garen turned to look at him, but Anakin kept his gaze steeled forward.

"I have surveyed all the systems of the Republic and have found no signs of General Grievous" Plo Koon spoke as all eyes turned to him.

"Hiding in the outer rim Grievous is" Yoda spoke normally, as though Anakin's outburst hadn't occurred. "The outline systems you must sweep."

"We do not have many ships to spare" Xanatos spoke up.

"What about the droid attack on the wookies?" Plo asked.

"It is critical we send an attack group there immediately" Mace added.

"He's right" Garen sighed "It's a system we cannot afford to lose."

"Go, I will. Good relations with the wookies I have" Yoda said.

"It's settled then" Mace nodded "Yoda will take a battalion of clones to aid the wookies on Kashyyk" he leaned back in his seat with a sigh "May the force be with us all."

Signaling the end of the session, Yoda began to stand. But before even he could get up, Anakin shot towards the door.

"Anakin" Garen called softly after him. But he was completely ignored as the padawan strode out of the council chambers. Garen groaned inwardly and headed out after his apprentice, shooting an apologetic look at Yoda before he left.

"Anakin!" he called as he quickened his pace to catch up to the younger man. Anakin kept up his long strides.

"Anakin, please, we need to talk-Anakin!" Garen called, growing a bit irritated. Finally, when Anakin still continued his walk away, Garen raised his voice "Anakin, I order you to stop, this instant!" he shouted. The sound of his voice resonated through the empty hallway.

Anakin stopped dead in his tracks.

Garen wasted no time to walk ahead and catch up to him. "Anakin-" he placed a shoulder calmly on the younger's shoulder. But Anakin quickly spun around.

"Why haven't you knighted me yet?!" he growled, rage glowing on his face.

"Anakin I-"

"I am 23; it's humiliating to still be a padawan!" Anakin yelled.

"Normal padawan are knighted no less than at 25 Anakin" Garen tried to reason.

"Yes, but I am the chosen one! Why is it that you and Reeft were knighted at 20, Xanatos and Obi-Wan both at 18, and I, the chosen one am still a padawan at 23?!" Anakin shouted. Garen opened his mouth to speak but Anakin cut him off "You know that I am strong enough to be a knight! I have the skills; the power, everything and still you refuse to knight me!"

"Anakin, you may have the skill and the power but you still lack the control, you must see that! Take a look at yourself at this very instant, you are screaming at your own master-tell me that is not lack of control upon your emotions!" Garen explained.

"And what about you?" Anakin growled "You're keeping your emotions in check very well what with spending every other night with Padme, aren't you?! Don't kriffing lecture me unless you know what you're doing yourself Garen."

"Anakin Skywalker, you will not speak to me that way, do you understand?" Garen growled, trying to cover up the sudden clenching in his heart "I spend my days covering up for your mistakes, tolerating your unbearable attitude and trying to help you, and this is what I get from you?"

Anakin looked away, unable to hold the eye contact with his master.

"You think you have everything you need to be a Jedi Knight but this immature approach to everything will not be tolerated any longer. You are not a little boy anymore and as long as you are my student you will heed to my wisdom" Garen spoke with icy coldness in his voice.

"You're right" Anakin spoke after a while, looking back into Garen's darkened green eyes "I'm not a little boy anymore and as far as wisdom goes you're no Qui-Gon either."

Garen's expression suddenly weakened. The cold glare in his eyes suddenly reflected the same pain Anakin had seen the day he'd heard of Qui-Gon's death. And all of a sudden, all the rage inside of Anakin disappeared, replaced by the realization of the words he had just spoken. The things he had just done.

He opened his mouth to say something-anything to make the situation better. To even apologize, but several feet behind Garen, the doors to the council chamber opened and the council came pouring out.

"Garen!" Obi-Wan called as he and the other stepped out "Dinner at Dex's?"

Garen snapped out of his gaze at his apprentice and quickly dragged the back of his hand across his eyes before turning around and mustering up a smile and a still voice "Yeah sure!" he called back to his friends. "You guys go on, I'll meet you there in a bit."

"Sure thing" Obi-Wan replied before he and the other two walked off in the direction of a different hallway.

Garen watched as they disappeared around the corner. But upon turning back ahead, he found Anakin…gone.

**A pretty intense ending to the chapter, eh? I liked the last part actually, I read it over several times just because it was so fun to wright it. Angst rocks XD That last thing that Anakin said about Qui-Gon was taken from an episode of the original Star Wars The Clone Wars. And I loved that part so much I just had to put it in here somehow =] Plus I hope that scene in the beginning with Padme and Garen was alright. I'm still not too sure about the humorous relationship between the two so I hope it's coming out like you guys want it to =]**

**So that was that and for those of you who read the companion piece to this, Days Before, the second chapter will be up shortly =]**

**Review!**


	8. Talks

**Here's the next one for you guys. Oh god, it is so late and I felt like procrastinating this so badly but then I was like "NO! For once I will not procrastinate an almost finished chapter for days!!!!" lol so I kinda made myself finish this so you guys could get it today =]**

**Enjoy!**

Garen returned home at an indefinite time late at night. He wasn't nearly coherent enough to check the time when he left Padme's flat_. _Yes, Padme's flat_. _

He, Reeft, Xanatos and Obi-Wan had gone to Dex's for dinner. And when they noticed he was a bit out of it they of course interrogated him into "spitting out who they needed to beat up for upsetting their best friend."

And at first Garen refused to mention Anakin, but eventually they got the picture. And once he explained the situation, Xanatos insisted they grab a quick drink before heading home (Although while they controlled the amount of alcohol that went into their systems, Garen decided it was a good night to grab whatever smelled funny and shove it down his throat.) . They'd done just that, and while the other three decided to head back to the temple, Garen took his leave and headed over to Padme's place (to which Anakin's words came back to haunt him.) His friends understood, gave him their best and left him to his own.

He had stopped by Padme's, stood out on her balcony with her, and seeked out her comfort-and admittedly even considered spending the night with her to prevent the awkward meeting that would inevitably occur between himself and his apprentice once he got home.

But then the better, sane and sober half of him decided he needed to have that meeting, no matter how much he disliked the idea. As a master it was his duty to fix the problems that occurred in the apprenticeship, and he would do as such.

So with that thought he stepped out of Padme's home and headed towards the Jedi Temple. And after a quick word with Yoda, he finally went home. When he stepped into the quarters, he found the living room lights on, and just as he was about to step into the kitchen, Anakin appeared from his room.

"Master…I know you've already eaten but if you need it…I left some food for you on the top shelf of the cooling unit" he spoke softly.

Garen blinked at him, his mind the slightest bit hazy from one (or six) too many cocktails. "I spoke to Yoda" he stated simply as he grabbed a glass off the counter and turned the faucet on "You are being knighted two days from now, at mid-day. In these two days you will be given time to move into and personalize your new quarters in the Knight's Wing."

He filled the glass to the rim and proceeded to down it in one go as Anakin stared at him incredulously.

"Mmm" he took a deep breath of air "That should help shake the alcohol off" he muttered to himself before pushing past his frozen apprentice and heading off to his room. And just as he was about to close the door behind him, Anakin dashed over and stuck a foot in its path. "Garen, wait."

"What?" the older spat as he eased the door from Anakin's foot.

"You don't…really mean that do you?" Anakin narrowed his eyes "You've been drinking too much is all…right?" He spoke despite knowing the unlikelihood of that statement. He knew Garen wasn't the one to ever come home intoxicated, and even if there was a lingering scent of every drink he'd downed that night, he wasn't fully intoxicated. He never was.

"Anakin, I meant every word I said. You're the one that wants to be knighted, you know" Garen said, not looking up into Anakin's midnight blue eyes (that were now starting to blur a bit.) They looked so much like Qui-Gon's it almost hurt. And not to mention-

But Garen stopped that thought right there. He knew where that line of thought would lead to and frankly his day had been bad enough without it.

"Yeah, but…" Anakin's voice wavered a bit "I-I didn't want you to throw me out…"

"Yeah, well it's happening, whether you like it or not" and with that the Garen promptly shut the door in Anakin's face.

The stunned apprentice stepped back from the spot his nose was almost shattered at. He numbly returned to the living room and dropped down into the couch, burying his face into his hands, Garen's words repeating in his mind.

Sure, he'd always wanted to be knighted, but properly. He'd always dreamed of his master approaching him with pride and care, announcing his decision to knight him. Yes, that was the perfect vision in his mind.

This however he had never seen coming-especially not from Garen. And yes Anakin had said and done some harsh things, but he'd done irrational things before, and Garen had always tolerated each and every one of them. So why was this any different?

_The mention of Qui-Gon, that's why _his mind retorted at him.

_But I didn't mean it. Really, I didn't _another part of him spoke.

_Then for the love of the force, tell him that, before you lose him forever _the first voice in his head screamed.

Anakin nodded to himself, and then suddenly paused as he realized his conscience sounded oddly like Xanatos…

He shook that thought off as he heard the door to Garen's room open. He kept his head low and listened. He heard footsteps leading to the kitchen. Then the water running…for an awful long time before the faucet was finally snapped shut, leaving his ears to nothing but the deadening silence.

Then footsteps again, drawing closer until from where his head hung, Anakin could see Garen's feet stepping into the room. Then walking over to the couch across from him. Then sitting down.

"Anakin-" Garen began, his voice sounded much more controlled, calm and reasonable.

But Anakin was quick to cut him off anyway "Garen, I'm sorry" he said looking up into his master's eyes "I didn't mean to say all that stuff. It just kind of came to me, I mean I get it now; I do lack a grip on my emotions. You of all the people know I have a bit of a temper and I can really let it get to my head sometimes, but I don't mean the things I say. I really don't, I promise I didn't mean to hurt you when I said that stuff" Anakin stopped his rambling in need of breath, and upon inhaling deeply, forced himself to say the one thing that rooted his entire fear:

"A-and I don't think I can bear losing another master…"

Garen's expression remained completely passive. But after a while, he broke his gaze with the younger and looked down "I know."

"You do?" Anakin whispered.

"Yes, I know. I know you didn't mean any of that" Garen spoke in a bit of an uncomfortably monotone voice.

"Then why did you-"

"Because even if you didn't mean it, it was true" Garen said coldly "I don't match Qui-Gon in wisdom, and I wasn't able to guide you the way he did. I'm not knighting you because of your personal flaws. I'm knighting you because I've failed to carry on what Qui-Gon started. I've failed to fulfill my duties as your master, so it is best you leave my tutelage as soon as possible and seek other forms of knowledge."

"Garen…" Anakin whispered a bit helplessly. Shocked at what he had started. "That's not true, you've been an amazing master, I-I'm the one that's been taking advantage of you. I am so sorry; I just need to know you're not angry with me Garen. I don't think I could stand that."

"I'm not" Garen answered simply. And suddenly, he decided to drop his stoic act; he ran a hand through his short brown hair "I'm just so frustrated…with everything. And what you said about Padme-"

"I apologize for that. It wasn't my place to bring up something so sensitive and personal" Anakin said quickly.

"Look, Anakin, I know you love Padme. I know it puts the two of us in an awkward position so you pretend to subside it. But I know you love her, and it was wrong of me to openly discuss and mention her in front of you like I've been doing for the past few years-" Garen ruffled up his own hair, desperately trying to find the right words to say "I just need someone to talk to every once in a while. And I know I have the greatest friends in the world to talk to but sometimes I just need someone that's there. And force knows, Anakin, you're like a son to me. I trust you with my life and everything that has to do with it. And I just thought I could tell you everything-"

"You can" Anakin cut him off "You can. I am so honored that you think of me that way, and just you you're like a father to me too, Garen. So when you're hurt, unhappy, angry or anything of that sort, I can't stand to see it." Anakin lowered his head a bit "Especially when I cause it."

A partially awkward, partially comfortable silence came over the two.

"Are we going through with the knighting?" Anakin asked after what seemed like forever.

"I sure as hell didn't lie to Yoda when I told him you could take the trials over a dozen times and walk out alive" Garen sighed, burrowing his hand in his hair once again "So, if you feel you are ready, I'd be more than happy to carry on with the knighting."

"Thanks…that means a lot" Anakin smiled a bit "But I really don't want to get knighted…if you're doing this because of all the things that've happened. Garen, I don't think I could live with moving away from you knowing things aren't right between us."

"I know" Garen sighed. He stood up lazily and walked over to his apprentice, stopping in front of the younger man "It's just been a long day is all. But nothing's changed between us, nothing ever did. And it never will" he said placing a hand on the younger's shoulder. "You're a good kid, Anakin, and you truly deserve this."

"Thanks" Anakin looked up at his master with an almost teary smile.

"Now, come on, it's late and you and I both need our rest" Garen said as he patted Anakin's shoulder and began to walk back towards his room. Anakin shot quickly after him and caught him once again, just outside his door.

"Hey, Garen?"

"Hm?" the older man turned around to face his apprentice. Anakin then walked up to him and awkwardly put his arms around him in a somewhat comforting embrace. "Thanks again…I have no idea where I'd be without you" he smiled.

And for the first time, Garen returned the smile, with a warm one of his own. And as he turned back to his room, he muttered quietly under his breath with a chuckle so quiet that even Anakin couldn't hear.

"The question is where I'd be without _you_, my eccentric, headstrong young apprentice"

* * *

"Oi, rise and shine, kid. Padme's asked for you" were the words that Anakin woke up to.

Anakin rolled over as Garen threw the curtains open. He grumbled and cracked an eye open "Why me?"

"I'm not sure, she didn't say, but she wanted to talk to you" Garen shrugged, picking random articles of clothing off the floor "Force Anakin, one would at least try to keep their room on levels less than a toxic dump…"

"She wants to talk now at…" Anakin muttered ignoring his master's previous statement and lifting his head up in search of his wall chrono.

"Three in the afternoon" Garen deadpanned "Not to mention she called for you a half an hour ago."

"Why didn't you wake me then?" Anakin suddenly jumped up.

"You were sleeping fairly well for the first time in weeks, I didn't want to wake you just yet" Garen answered simply, heading towards the door. "Hurry up and get ready, I am to escort you to Padme's place" he called walking out.

"Are you a part of the meeting as well?" Anakin asked as he got out of bed and headed for his fresher.

"No, I'll have to wait outside. She wants to talk to you alone" Garen called back from the kitchen.

Anakin thought for a moment. Why on Coroscant would Padme want to speak alone with him? He thought about the matter as he washed up and took a quick shower. Once he stepped out of the shower, he found his room spotless and the random spot he would normally reach out to for clothing was clean. So he left his room and stepped into the kitchen, only half dressed and water still dripping from his shoulder length hair.

"Anakin, put on a shirt, I am not the one that should have to deal with staring at your bare chest" Garen chuckled as Anakin walked in.

"I can't find anything since you've gotten through with my room" Anakin complained "Have you already had breakfast?"

"Yes, Anakin, almost 10 hours ago" Garen rolled his eyes.

"Hey, it's not my fault you get up at ungodly hours of the morning" Anakin shrugged.

"We'll drop by Dex's on the way back and get something to eat, alright?" Garen said as he gave his hands a quick wash and stepped out of the kitchen.

"Sure" Anakin said following after the older man.

In about five minute's time the pair had left the Jedi Temple and headed out for the Senate Building.

"Hey, Garen?" Anakin called after his master as they approached the large building.

"Yeah?" Garen turned back to face his apprentice.

"You didn't tell Padme…you know…you didn't tell her what I said, did you?" Anakin said a bit hesitantly.

"No, I didn't. What happens between us stays between us" Garen said solemnly as they entered "At least that's what goes for me…"

Anakin kept his gaze lowered. He knew Garen was referring to his habit of running off to Chancellor Palpatine with every chance he could get to spill all the secrets of his heart.

"Chin up, Anakin, I was kidding" Garen chuckled, falling back a step so he was side to side with his apprentice.

Once they came to a stop at Padme's door, Garen stopped "This is where I leave you. Be good, keep a smile and remember, she knows nothing unless you tell her."

Anakin nodded, trying hard to return his master's smile, but finding himself unable to do so. Instead he just turned and knocked. Padme answered with a smile and invited him in.

"Tea?" she said as they stepped into the living room.

"No thanks" Anakin muttered as he took a seat on one of the decorative sofas. Padme seated herself next to him.

"Anakin, I have to admit, I didn't call you here on a social visit" she began "It's actually something quite important. You of all people have probably noticed by now…something is amiss amongst our ranks."

Anakin nodded "Sometimes I wonder what's happening to the Jedi Order itself. This war is destroying the principles of the Republic."

"Have you ever considered that we might be on the wrong side?" Padme asked slowly.

"What do you mean?" Anakin furrowed his brows.

"What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists?" Padme explained "And the Republic has become the very evil we've been fighting to destroy?"

"I don't believe that" Anakin shook his head angrily "And you're sounding like a separatist."

"This war represents a failure to listen" Padme insisted "Now you're closer to the chancellor than anyone, please ask him to stop the fighting and let diplomacy resume!"

"Don't ask me to do that" Anakin growled as he stood up. He stepped towards the veranda and looked out into the city view "Make a motion in the senate where that kind of a request belongs."

"I understand…" Padme said softly.

"No, no, sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright Anakin, I think I'll take it from here" Garen's voice sounded from the door "You probably won't be allowed to stick around any more anyway."

Anakin raised a brow.

"The chancellor's called for you. He wants you to meet him at the Performance Theatre" Garen explained.

"Oh…" Anakin muttered. He then turned to Padme "I'll mention what you said to him. I promise."

"Thank you, Anakin. With any luck he'll actually listen to you" Padme smiled.

Anakin simply nodded, exchanged a telling glance with Garen and took his leave.

"Will you be staying?" Padme asked as the door slid shut behind Anakin.

"Of course" Garen smiled "I'll tell Anakin to drop by after meeting through the bond. We can leave for the temple together."

"Great" Padme returned the smile "In that case, would you like some tea?"

"Absolutely" Garen grinned.

**Phew, there. Wow, this took far too much effort to finish. Anyways, hope you guys likes it =] I know there is absolutely no Obi-Wan and Xanatos here but they'll be back soon. Because as much as we all love Obi and Xan, Anakin is still the main character, therefore he needs time as well XD**

**Review!!**


	9. The Path Before You

**Oh my god, it's been over two months...oh my god...0.o Now before you all come and torch me, let me explain. For some reason I had such an insane writer's block on this chapter that for a while I just gave up on it. I mean it wasn't that over the course of the two months I was even writing it, no IO was just being downright lazy. But my midichlorians finally started to kick up again and they smacked me in the face, demanding to know what I was doing with myself. So I jumped up and decided to finish this chapter! =D**

**So here it is, I know it's super short and you all ought to throttle me for how short it is, and I owe you so much more, but I promise the next one will be longer =]**

**Enjoy!**

Two masked, robed, silent Red Guards flanked the door to the Chancellor's private box at the Galaxies Opera. Anakin didn't need to speak; as he approached, one of them said "You are expected" and opened the door.

The small round box had only a handful of seats, overlooking the spread of overdressed beings that filled every seat in the orchestra; on this opening night, everyone seemed to have forgotten there was a war going on. Anakin barely gave a glance towards the immense sphere of shimmering water that rippled gently in the stage's artificial zero-g; he had no interest in the ballet.

In the semi-dim gloom, Palpatine sat with the speaker of the senate, Mas Ammeda, and his administrative aide, Sly Moore.

Anakin approached the Palaptine from behind "Chancellor. Sorry I'm late."

Palpatine turned toward him, his face lit up "Yes, Anakin! Don't worry, come in, my boy, come in. thank you for your report on the council meeting this afternoon, it made a most interesting reading. And now I have good news for you-Clone Intelligence has located General Grievous!"

"That's tremendous!" Anakin shook his head. "He won't escape us again!"

"I will direct the council to give you this assignment, Anakin. Your gifts are wasted on Coroscant-you should be out on the field. You can attend council meetings by holoconference."

Anakin frowned "Thank you, sir, but the Council coordinates Jedi assignment."

"Of course, of course. Musn't step on any Jedi toes, must we? They are so jealous of their political prerogative. Still, I shall wonder at their collective wisdom if they chose someone else for this assignment."

"I'm sure they'll go for someone like Obi-Wan or Xanatos to find Grievous…" Anakin trailed off, looking sideways.

"To find him, yes. But you are the best man to apprehend him-though of course, the Jedi Council cannot always be trusted to do the right thing."

"They try. I believe they do try, sir" Anakin suddenly felt a bit defensive. The Jedi council was after all the lot that saved his skin from Wattoo. He owed them at least that much.

"Do you still? Sit down" Palpatine looked at the other two beings in the box. "Leave us."

They rose and withdrew. Anakin took Mas Amedda's seat.

Palpatine gazed distractedly down at the display for a long time, as if there was so much he wanted to say, but wasn't sure where to begin. Finally he sighed and leaned close to Anakin.

"Anakin, I think you know by now that I cannot rely upon the Jedi Council. That is why I put you on it. If they have not yet tried to use you in their plot, they soon will."

Anakin's face remained blank "I'm not sure I understand."

"You must sense what I have come to suspect" Palpatine said grimly "The Jedi Council is after far more than independence from the senate oversight; I believe they intend to control the Republic itself."

"Chancellor-"

"I believe they are planning treason. They hope to overthrow my government and replace me with someone on whom Jedi mind tricks will work with every word."

"I can't believe the council-"

"Anakin, search your feelings. You do know, don't you?"

Anakin looked away "I know they don't trust you…"

"Or the senate. Or the Republic. Or democracy itself, for that matter. The Jedi Council is not elected. It selects its own members according to it's own rules- a less generous man than I might say whim-and gives them authority backed by power. They rule the Jedi as they hope to rule the Republic. By fiat."

"I admit…" Anakin looked down at his hands "…my faith in them has been…shaken."

"How? Have they approached you already? Have they ordered you to do something dishonest?" Palaptine's frown cleared into a gently wise smile resembling that oddly of Yoda's. "Did they tell you to spy on me?"

"I-"

"It's alright, Anakin, I have nothing to hide."

"I-why would you suspect them to ask me to spy?"

"Because I trust you more than anyone. I tell you everything. And at the same time you are strictly loyal to the Jedi. The perfect spy."

"I…don't know what to say…"

"Do you remember" Palpatine said drawing away from Anakin so that he could lean back comfortably in his seat. "how as a young boy, when you first came to this planet, I tried to teach you the ins and outs of politics?"

Anakin smiled faintly "I remember that I didn't care much for the lessons."

"For any lessons, as I recall. But it's a pity; you should have paid more attention. To understand politics is to understand the fundamental nature of thinking beings. Right now, you should remember one of my first teachings: all those who gain power are afraid to lose it."

"The Jedi use their powers for good" Anakin said a bit too firmly.

"Good is a point of view Anakin. And the Jedi concept of good is not the only valid one. Take your dark lords of the sit for example. From my readings I've gathered that the sith believed in justice and security as much as the Jedi-"

"The Jedi believe in justice and peace."

"In these troubled times, is there a difference?" Palpatine asked mildly. "The Jedi have not done a stellar job of bringing peace to the galaxy, you must agree. Who's to say that the sith might not have done better?"

"This is another of those arguments you probably shouldn't bring up in front of the council if you know what I mean" Anakin replied with a disbelieving smile.

"Oh yes. Because the sith would be a threat to the Jedi Order's power. Lesson one."

Anakin shook his head "Because the sith are evil."

"From a Jedi's point of view" Palpatine allowed "Evil is a label we put on those who threaten us, isn't it? Yet the sith and the Jedi are alike in almost every way including their quest for greater power."

"The Jedi quest for greater understanding" Anakin countered "For greater knowledge of the force-"

"Which brings greater power, does it not?"

"Well…yes" Anakin had to laugh "I should have known better than to argue with a politician."

"We're not arguing, Anakin. We're just talking" Palpatine shifted his weight, settling in comfortably. "Perhaps the real difference between the Jedi and the sith is that a Jedi gains power through understanding and a sith gains understanding through power. This is the true reason that the sith are more powerful than the Jedi. The Jedi fear the dark side so much that they cut themselves off from everything. Love passion, or anything of that sort-"

"That isn't entirely true" Anakin cut the chancellor off, thinking about himself, Xanatos, Obi-Wan and even Garen who loved with their lives and yet were still the perfect Jedi.

"Still, the Jedi fear the dark side. The sith do not. The sith have no fear. They embrace the whole spectrum of the experience, from joy to despair. Beings have emotion for a reason Anakin. That is why the sith are more powerful; they are not afraid to feel."

Anakin opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. He looked away as a sign of defeat.

"Anakin, have you ever heard of the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?" Palpatine spoke after a while.

"No…" Anakin said a bit defeatedly.

"I thought not" Palpatine said almost immediately "It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a dark lord of the sith so powerful and so wise that he could use the force to influence midichlorians to create...life."

Anakin furrowed his brows. Why hadn't he ever heard of such a power before? Why did the Jedi chose to hide tales of such greatness?

"His powers were so great that he could stop the ones he loved...from dying" Palpatine said very slowly.

These words struck Anakin deeply. "He could actually...save people from death?" That was incredible...his dreams of his mother immediately came back to him. If he could learnt his power...

"The dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be...unnatural" Palpatine drawled.

It suddenly occurred to Anakin, that Palpatine had been using the word 'was' when describing Plagueis. "What happened to him?" he asked a little afraid to find out.

"He became so powerful that he could stop anyone he wanted from certain death. Unfortunately...he taught his apprentice everything he knew...then his apprentice killed him in his sleep..." Palpatine replied. A very distant look came over his features "Ironic...he could save others from death...but not himself..."

Anakin thought very hard before he spoke "Is it possible...to learn this power?"

"Not..." Palpatine turned to look straight into Anakin's eyes "From a Jedi."

And just as Anakin opened his mouth to speak, another voice came from behind Palpatine.

"Chancellor Palpatine" Anakin looked up to see Xanatos standing behind the chancellor's seat "I am very sorry, but I'm afraid I'll have to borrow Anakin for a moment. Council's orders."

Palpatine looked up at the younger man in disapproval. Nevertheless he nodded "Of course."

"Great, Anakin, come on" Xanatos said nodding in the direction of the door.

Anakin stood up, said a rushed and awkward goodbye to Palpatine before jogging after Xanatos, who was already at the door.

"Did you see the look he gave me when I talked to him?" Xanatos complained as they began walking down the hall "Looked like he wanted to kill me. Palpatine's never really liked me. I guess he just can't get over the fact that after turning to the dark side they let me stay in the order. Apparently saying no to kriffing Darth Sidious isn't good enough for him" he rolled his eyes. He stopped his ranting as he noticed Anakin's distant expression. "What's wrong?"

"Hey, Xanatos? Did you know my conscience sounds a lot like you?" Anakin stated randomly.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Wow, Obi-Wan's told me that more than once" Xanatos chuckled "But you still haven't answered my question..."

"What?"

"What's bothering you?"

Anakin hesitated before he just spat it out. "They council wants me to spy on the chancellor"

"Who told you that?" Xanatos raised a brow.

"He did."

"Well that's nice, and now I'm telling you that Obi-Wan is a sith. Doesn't necessarily make it true, does it?" Xanatos said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"…No" Anakin looked down sheepishly. He would never understand how Xanatos did that; made the most complicated situations seem like nothing with just a few words.

"Great, now that that's settled, let's move on, shall we?" Xanatos said with unnecessary enthusiasm. He held the door open for Anakin as they reached the entrance of the Performance Theatre. He allowed Anakin time to think as they walked to his speeder. But once they were in the air, Anakin spoke up.

"Xanatos…"

"Hm?"

Anakin hesitated once more. Why was it so hard to just tell Xanatos what he thought? And yet he could spill the world's secrets to Palpatine with ease?? "I don't think the council trusts me…" he spoke after a while/

"I trust you" Xanatos shrugged simply, keeping his eyes on the road-or rather the sky.

"Yes…but the council…"

"Trusts you just as much" Xanatos cut the younger off.

"No they don't. Don't lie to me Xanatos; I see what you're doing" Anakin's tone became heated. He wasn't even sure where it was coming from.

"What _they're_ doing Anakin. I could never think of causing you harm" Xanatos clarified.

"I know…"

"I love you like a son Anakin. I brought you to this beautiful place, I watched you grow up into an amazing young man, and tomorrow I will watch your knighting. After all that do you think I'd hide anything from you?"

"No. I know you wouldn't. And I appreciate it Xanatos. I really do" Anakin nodded.

"I'm glad. Anakin let me ask you something" Xanatos said after a small pause.

"Sure"

"If you have so many people around you to trust, myself, Obi-Wan, Garen, Reeft, Padme, why do you keep running to the chancellor with every chance you get? Why is it that you haven't come to me or Obi-Wan with a problem since you were 15?"

Anakin wasn't sure how to respond to that. Why didn't he?

"Did you think that would stop us from believing you had problems to face?"

Anakin remained silent.

"Listen Anakin, just because the chancellor tells you what you want to hear doesn't necessarily mean he wants better for you than we do" Xanatos gave him a warning look "The chancellor has watched life unfold before you. We've watched it unfold _with_ you. We know better than anyone what you're going through. Yes, by anyone I mean the chancellor as well. You would be wise to listen to those who have faced pain equivalent to your own; not those who haven't the slightest clue" Xanatos raised a brow at the younger.

"I-" Anakin wasn't sure how to respond to that; Xanatos had chosen his words well. "The chancellor does understand what I've gone through...."

"Anakin listen, when I was 18 I watched my master kill my father. I then almost killed my master before realizing he didn't mean any harm-and to this day I feel that I am to blame for breaking Qui-Gon's arm, burning his leg and almost driving my lightsaber through his heart" Xanatos said quietly "Do you know how much that is to bear in here" he tapped a spot on his chest "Especially now that he's gone?"

"I-"

"I've almost killed every person I ever cared about Anakin at least once over the course of my life, all because of my despicable, selfish and rash personality. I've hurt and damaged those I love one too many times and realized only once it was too late. I've held friends as they've died and I've screamed myself hoarse in pain. I've done so many things in my life we'd be here all century if I tried to tell you them all. And there is nothing more that I want to do than to protect you, Obi-Wan, all of you from the horrors I have faced in my past" Xanatos said quickly "Now you tell me who understands you better; myself, who felt the same burning agony when you lost Qui-Gon and has seen the same things you have through the clone wars. Or the chancellor, who grew up pampered, spoiled and sheltered in the house of royalty?"

Anakin was left speechless.

"Be careful of your friend Palpatine, Anakin" Xanatos advised as they approached the temple's main hangar.

They both remained silent on the way to the council chambers. And as they came to the doors, Xanatos stopped. He turned to Anakin and stared hard at the young man "Anakin, you are notorious for your rebellious attitude towards the council. But tonight, as we speak to them, think about what I've told you. Think about what decisions you'll make when the council says something to displease you. And please take me words to heart" he looked sincerely into the younger's eyes "The path has been placed before you Anakin. The choice to take it must be yours alone."

Anakin simply nodded, and stepped forward through the doors.

**Hey, you guys know what I just realized? C3P0 doesn't exist in my story! 0.o I mean I remember I mentioned him in I.E.C but I don't think he ever made it to Coroscant to Anakin and Shmi…it must have like…slipped my mind or something. Gee…that's not good…anyone have any ideas how I can bring him in now?? Please, tell me your ideas, I'd love to know =]**

**On another note, for those of you who are waiting on my other stories, Quondam Iterum, Permaneo Lacuna or Amicitia Instituo, I'll be updating those very soon so keep a heads up! =]**

**Review!**


	10. Important message and such :)

**Hello my dear lovely readers and reviewers. First off, if you're reading this you still have my Xanatos Chronicle stories on your alerts and still care about it for which I thank you very, very much. That being said I realize it's been almost three whole years since I've updated "Savin Me" the third of the series but recently I've been inspired to start up with it again. The thing is though, three years later my writing is much different than it was when I first started the Xan Chron and to be honest it's a bit embarrassing looking back and seeing what it used to be. My writing's developed significantly and so I've started rewriting the series starting from "If Everyone Cared" which is now called "Fifteen, There's Still Time."**

**I will be rewriting all three and I'd intended on making a prequel three to the ones I'd already posted about all of the events that led up to IEC as well so chances are I'll actually get that done this time to. So once again if you've stuck around this far or plan on sticking around for my rewrites then I thank you very very much and here's to hoping I can tell the tale of our boy Xanatos just a bit better this time. Thanks again :)**

**-Shyma**


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